Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Takes $10.70 Million Position in BCE, Inc. $BCE

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 496,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,698,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned approximately 0.05% of BCE at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,992,000 shares during the last quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 9.7% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 3,024,110 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in BCE by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,020,124 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $429,834,000 after purchasing an additional 700,797 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in BCE by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 17,296,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $436,320,000 after purchasing an additional 160,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec grew its holdings in BCE by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 8,744,821 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $208,459,000 after purchasing an additional 511,011 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BCE Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of BCE opened at $23.60 on Tuesday. BCE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.87 and a 52 week high of $26.52. The firm has a market cap of $22.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.83 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.73.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 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. On average, analysts forecast that BCE, Inc. will post 1.87 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on BCE shares. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce restated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Friday, July 10th. TD Securities upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings lowered BCE from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on BCE in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded BCE from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company 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.