Nicola Wealth Management LTD. Buys 109,400 Shares of BCE, Inc. $BCE

Key Points

• Nicola Wealth Management LTD. increased its stake in BCE, Inc. by 28.2%, acquiring an additional 109,400 shares to own approximately 497,200 shares valued at $11.4 million.
• Wall Street analysts maintain a consensus rating of "Hold" on BCE, with a price target of $38.67, while recent earnings reports showed BCE's EPS fell short of estimates at $0.46.
• BCE announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4375 per share, with an annualized yield of 7.2%, despite a high dividend payout ratio of 437.93%.

Nicola Wealth Management LTD. lifted its stake in shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 28.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 497,200 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 109,400 shares during the quarter. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. owned 0.05% of BCE worth $11,416,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BCE. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in BCE in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BCE in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in BCE in the 1st quarter worth approximately $47,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in BCE by 64.8% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,096 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in BCE by 67.1% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 3,310 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 1,329 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

BCE Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:BCE traded up $0.08 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $23.51. 1,030,379 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,235,553. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $24.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17. BCE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.28 and a 52 week high of $36.17. The company has a market cap of $21.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.63.

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

BCE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.4375 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.4%. BCE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 434.48%.

BCE Company 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.