Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Raises Stake in BCE, Inc. $BCE

Key Points

• The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in BCE, Inc. by 50.9%, acquiring 4,783,232 additional shares, bringing its total ownership to 14,181,568 shares valued at approximately $325.6 million.
• BCE's recent financial performance showed an EPS of $0.46 for the quarter, missing estimates by $0.06, while the company reported revenues of $4.47 billion, which was below analyst expectations.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4375, with a yield of 7.0%, and a payout ratio of 434.48%, indicating substantial dividend payments relative to its earnings.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 50.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,181,568 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,783,232 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned 1.54% of BCE worth $325,559,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in BCE by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 249,747 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,787,000 after buying an additional 11,746 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of BCE by 109.3% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 17,564 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $407,000 after acquiring an additional 9,171 shares during the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BCE by 49.0% during the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 80,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,854,000 after buying an additional 26,292 shares in the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 27,740 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $643,000 after purchasing an additional 4,030 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in BCE during the 4th quarter worth about $151,000. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on BCE. Desjardins raised BCE from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Cibc World Mkts cut BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. TD Securities reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Scotiabank raised BCE from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, National Bankshares reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Friday, August 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $38.67.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE:BCE traded down $0.54 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $24.43. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,649,787 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,291,010. The firm has a market cap of $22.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.20 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $24.01 and a 200-day moving average of $22.97. BCE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.28 and a 12 month high of $36.17.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $4.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.91 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 18.89% and a net margin of 1.96%.The firm's revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. BCE has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. Research analysts expect that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.2%. BCE's dividend payout ratio is 437.93%.

BCE Profile

BCE Inc, a communications company, provides wireless, wireline, Internet, and television (TV) services to residential, business, and wholesale customers in Canada. The company operates through two segments, Bell Communication and Technology Services, and Bell Media. The Bell Communication and Technology Services segment provides wireless products and services including mobile data and voice plans and devices; wireline products and services comprising data, including internet access, internet protocol television, cloud-based services, and business solutions, as well as voice, and other communication services and products; and satellite TV and connectivity services for residential, small and medium-sized business, government, and large enterprise customers.