TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Increases Stock Position in BCE, Inc. $BCE

Key Points

• TD Waterhouse Canada increased its BCE stake by 15.7% in the second quarter, acquiring 352,319 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 2.6 million shares valued at approximately $54.6 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with six Buy ratings and five Hold ratings producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $29.25. Bank of America upgraded the stock to Buy, while Barclays reduced its price target to $25.
• BCE reported quarterly EPS of $0.47, slightly exceeding estimates, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4375 per share. The annualized dividend is $1.75, representing a yield of about 7.3%.

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its holdings in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE by 15.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,595,093 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 352,319 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. owned about 0.28% of BCE worth $54,633,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in BCE by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,020,124 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $429,834,000 after buying an additional 700,797 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 501.6% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 75,198 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,898,000 after acquiring an additional 62,698 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of BCE during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,616,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of BCE by 10.1% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,886,101 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $40,570,000 after acquiring an additional 172,955 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 6.2% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,837,452 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $122,097,000 after purchasing an additional 282,287 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BCE. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce restated an "outperform" rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of BCE from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Raymond James Financial began coverage on BCE in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. They set a "market perform" rating on the stock. Bank of America upgraded BCE from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $24.50 to $27.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on BCE from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BCE has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $29.25.

BCE Price Performance

NYSE BCE opened at $23.82 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.21 billion, a PE ratio of 4.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.07 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.73. The business's fifty day moving average is $22.37 and its 200 day moving average is $23.88. BCE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.87 and a fifty-two week high of $26.52.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.35 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 25.49%.BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.798-1.919 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that BCE, Inc. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. BCE's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.97%.

BCE Company 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.

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