Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd Invests $878,000 in BCE, Inc. $BCE

Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 39,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $878,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in BCE by 170.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,679,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $268,164,000 after acquiring an additional 7,365,253 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of BCE by 36.1% during the first quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 25,249,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $579,458,000 after purchasing an additional 6,697,900 shares in the last quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec lifted its holdings in BCE by 94.4% in the first quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 10,649,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $243,966,000 after purchasing an additional 5,171,655 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in BCE by 50.9% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 14,181,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $325,559,000 after buying an additional 4,783,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in BCE by 13.5% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,844,502 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $157,133,000 after buying an additional 815,614 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BCE. Desjardins raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. TD Securities raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. National Bankshares reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Barclays lowered their price target on BCE from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.00.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at $22.95 on Friday. BCE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.28 and a 12 month high of $27.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17. The stock has a market cap of $21.40 billion, a PE ratio of 79.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.26.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.05. BCE had a return on equity of 18.89% and a net margin of 1.96%.The firm had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. BCE has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.78%.

BCE Company Profile

BCE Inc, a communications company, provides wireless, wireline, Internet, and television (TV) services to residential, business, and wholesale customers in Canada. The company operates through two segments, Bell Communication and Technology Services, and Bell Media. The Bell Communication and Technology Services segment provides wireless products and services including mobile data and voice plans and devices; wireline products and services comprising data, including internet access, internet protocol television, cloud-based services, and business solutions, as well as voice, and other communication services and products; and satellite TV and connectivity services for residential, small and medium-sized business, government, and large enterprise customers.