Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Lowers Stock Position in BCE, Inc. $BCE

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership cut its stake in shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 12.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,151,211 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,061,327 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in BCE were worth $337,453,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of BCE by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,806,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,034,000 after buying an additional 65,650 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in BCE by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,319,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $404,701,000 after purchasing an additional 608,264 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in BCE by 23.3% during the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,848,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $91,794,000 after purchasing an additional 727,860 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its position in BCE by 2,287.8% during the 3rd quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 587,488 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,727,000 after purchasing an additional 562,884 shares during the period. Finally, K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc boosted its position in BCE by 22.8% during the 3rd quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 257,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,982,000 after purchasing an additional 47,756 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, TD Securities lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.67.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at $24.57 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $22.91 billion, a PE ratio of 4.99 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.74. BCE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.58 and a 1 year high of $26.52.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.38 billion. BCE had a net margin of 25.66% and a return on equity of 13.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.69 EPS. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that BCE, Inc. will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is 26.02%.

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.