Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Trims Holdings in BCE, Inc. $BCE

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC trimmed its stake in shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 12.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 381,539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 54,794 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $8,207,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in BCE in the 4th quarter worth about $100,999,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in BCE during the 4th quarter valued at about $91,811,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec increased its position in shares of BCE by 9.7% during 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 period. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in shares of BCE by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 17,136,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $408,749,000 after buying an additional 2,250,106 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its position in shares of BCE by 5.6% during 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $23.46 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.09. BCE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.87 and a twelve month high of $26.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.80 and a beta of 0.51. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results 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. BCE had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 25.49%.The firm had revenue of $4.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.35 billion. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.798-1.919 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BCE, Inc. will post 1.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BCE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Bank of America raised shares of BCE from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $24.50 to $27.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. TD Securities raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of 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 issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BCE has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.