Bank of Nova Scotia Increases Stock Holdings in BCE, Inc. $BCE

Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its stake in shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 17,296,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 160,310 shares during the quarter. BCE comprises about 0.7% of Bank of Nova Scotia’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in BCE were worth $436,320,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BCE. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 232,040 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,856,000 after acquiring an additional 14,454 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in BCE by 15.9% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 76,984 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,938,000 after purchasing an additional 10,545 shares in the last quarter. Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS acquired a new stake in BCE in the first quarter valued at about $78,000. Summit Global Investments purchased a new stake in BCE in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $520,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of BCE by 118.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 879,778 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,206,000 after buying an additional 477,307 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on BCE from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 16th. TD Securities raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of BCE in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Friday, May 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BCE has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.00.

BCE Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of BCE stock opened at $21.23 on Friday. BCE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.87 and a 1 year high of $26.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $23.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $24.29. The company has a market capitalization of $19.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.52.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.38 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 13.87% and a net margin of 25.66%.BCE’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.69 EPS. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BCE, Inc. will post 1.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were given a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.81%.

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.