42,203 Shares in BCE, Inc. $BCE Purchased by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 42,203 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $987,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BCE by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 32,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $767,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in BCE by 11.1% during the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,802 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in BCE by 15.7% during the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 485 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in BCE by 4.3% in the third quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 14,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MGO One Seven LLC grew its stake in shares of BCE by 5.3% in the third quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 12,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,000 after acquiring an additional 626 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BCE opened at $26.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market cap of $24.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.10. BCE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $20.28 and a fifty-two week high of $26.52.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.55 billion. BCE had a net margin of 26.14% and a return on equity of 16.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. On average, analysts expect that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.7%. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 25.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 28th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Monday, January 12th. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of BCE from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.00.

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.