Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Sells 127,394 Shares of BCE, Inc. $BCE

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 20.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 485,021 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 127,394 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. owned about 0.05% of BCE worth $10,433,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FIL Ltd increased its stake in shares of BCE by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 37,579,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $896,398,000 after buying an additional 1,992,000 shares in the last quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 9.7% in the third quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 34,107,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $797,161,000 after buying an additional 3,024,110 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in BCE by 4.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in BCE by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 17,296,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $436,320,000 after buying an additional 160,310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec grew its holdings in BCE by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 8,744,821 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $208,459,000 after acquiring an additional 511,011 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of BCE opened at $23.46 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.88 billion, a PE ratio of 4.80 and a beta of 0.51. BCE, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.87 and a 12-month high of $26.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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. As a group, research analysts predict that BCE, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on BCE. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of BCE in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research raised shares of BCE from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Friday, August 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.25.

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.