111 Capital Invests $1.27 Million in BCE, Inc. $BCE

111 Capital bought a new stake in shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 54,266 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,267,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 3.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,319,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $404,701,000 after purchasing an additional 608,264 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 99.4% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 14,006,153 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $310,682,000 after buying an additional 6,981,281 shares during the period. Cullen Capital Management LLC lifted its position in BCE by 77.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC now owns 6,389,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $149,459,000 after acquiring an additional 2,792,485 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in BCE by 24.8% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,006,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $133,173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,192,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in BCE by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. now owns 5,647,934 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $125,004,000 after acquiring an additional 445,680 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE opened at $26.29 on Monday. BCE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.28 and a 52 week high of $26.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market cap of $24.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $24.74 and a 200-day moving average of $24.05.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.55 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 16.30% and a net margin of 26.14%.The business’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 28th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of BCE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.00.

BCE Profile

BCE Inc (NYSE: BCE) is a Canadian communications, media and entertainment company that operates through its primary subsidiaries, including Bell Canada and Bell Media. As a large integrated telecommunications provider, BCE delivers a broad range of connectivity services and content to residential, business and wholesale customers across Canada. The company combines network infrastructure with media assets to offer bundled communications and entertainment solutions.

On the services side, BCE provides fixed-line and wireless voice services, mobile data, high-speed internet, fibre and broadband access, and television services through platforms such as Bell Fibe and Bell TV.