Envestnet Asset Management Inc. Buys 85,725 Shares of BCE, Inc. $BCE

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,033,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 85,725 shares during the quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $24,183,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BCE by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 32,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $767,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in BCE by 15.7% in the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in BCE by 4.3% in the third quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 14,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its position in shares of BCE by 5.3% during the third quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 12,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 60,008 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after buying an additional 705 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BCE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Wall Street Zen cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 28th. Barrington Research upgraded BCE from an “underperform” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE opened at $25.71 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. BCE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.28 and a twelve month high of $26.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.24 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50 day moving average of $24.22 and a 200-day moving average of $23.92.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. BCE had a net margin of 26.14% and a return on equity of 16.30%. The business had revenue of $4.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.46%.

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.