TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Increases Holdings in BCE, Inc. $BCE

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its holdings in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 15.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,595,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 352,319 shares during the quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $54,633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FIL Ltd grew 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 worth $896,398,000 after purchasing an additional 1,992,000 shares in the last quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec lifted its holdings in 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 worth $797,161,000 after purchasing an additional 3,024,110 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 worth $429,834,000 after purchasing an additional 700,797 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in BCE by 0.9% during 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 buying an additional 160,310 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec grew its holdings in BCE by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 8,744,821 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $208,459,000 after buying an additional 511,011 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BCE shares. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Friday, July 10th. TD Securities raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of BCE from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of BCE from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BCE has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.25.

BCE Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $23.82 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $22.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.87, a P/E/G ratio of 6.07 and a beta of 0.52. BCE, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.87 and a 12-month high of $26.52.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. BCE had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 25.49%.The company had revenue of $4.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.35 billion. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.798-1.919 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BCE, Inc. will post 1.93 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.4375 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.3%. BCE’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

BCE Company 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.