Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in BCE, Inc. $BCE

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its position in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 11.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,108 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BCE. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in BCE by 170.7% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,679,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $268,164,000 after buying an additional 7,365,253 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in shares of BCE by 36.1% during the 1st quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 25,249,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $579,458,000 after purchasing an additional 6,697,900 shares in the last quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec boosted its position in shares of BCE by 94.4% during the 1st quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 10,649,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $243,966,000 after purchasing an additional 5,171,655 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of BCE by 50.9% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 14,181,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $325,559,000 after purchasing an additional 4,783,232 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of BCE by 13.5% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,844,502 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $157,133,000 after purchasing an additional 815,614 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BCE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Wednesday. CIBC restated a “neutral” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Desjardins upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts downgraded BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $32.50.

BCE Trading Up 1.9%

NYSE:BCE opened at $23.89 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.28 billion, a PE ratio of 82.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17. BCE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.28 and a 52-week high of $33.85. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.97.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $4.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.91 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 18.89% and a net margin of 1.96%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. BCE has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.4375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.3%. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 437.93%.

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.