Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in BCE, Inc. $BCE

Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. boosted its position in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 8.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,647,934 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 445,680 shares during the quarter. BCE makes up about 2.4% of Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $125,004,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in BCE in the second quarter worth $28,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its stake in shares of BCE by 2,459.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 1,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,402 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of BCE during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new stake in shares of BCE in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BCE in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BCE shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded BCE from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $35.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. National Bankshares reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Desjardins raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given 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, BCE has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.00.

BCE Trading Down 1.3%

BCE stock opened at $22.81 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $21.27 billion, a PE ratio of 78.64, a P/E/G ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $23.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.24. BCE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.28 and a 52 week high of $27.50.

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

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. BCE’s payout ratio 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.