BCE, Inc. $BCE Stock: Cidel Asset Management Inc. Raises Stake

Cidel Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 837.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 270,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 242,069 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $5,529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 160,310 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 21.7% in the 1st quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,038,362 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,011,000 after purchasing an additional 897,141 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BCE in the 2nd quarter valued at $107,023,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 6.2% in the 1st 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. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its position in shares of BCE by 0.6% during the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 2,610,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,903,000 after buying an additional 15,469 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of BCE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce restated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Thursday, October 8th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on BCE from $25.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BCE has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.00.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at $20.38 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.17, a PEG ratio of 6.14 and a beta of 0.54. BCE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.68 and a 52-week high of $26.52. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $21.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.44.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. BCE had a net margin of 25.49% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The company had revenue of $4.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.35 billion. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.798-1.919 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that BCE, Inc. will post 1.89 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were paid a C$0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. BCE’s payout ratio is 25.77%.

BCE Company Profile

BCE Inc is a Canadian communications and media company headquartered in Montréal, Québec. Through its Bell Canada operations, the company provides wireless and wireline telecommunications services, including mobile voice and data, high-speed internet, local and long-distance voice, and digital television. Bell serves residential, small-business, enterprise and government customers across Canada.

BCE also operates a media business through Bell Media, which includes television networks, digital platforms, radio stations and related content operations.