496,837 Shares in BCE, Inc. $BCE Purchased by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 496,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,698,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its position in BCE by 735.3% during the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 1,022 shares in the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of BCE in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Ascentis Independent Advisors acquired a new position in BCE in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in BCE by 1,642.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,411 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,330 shares during the period. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC bought a new stake in BCE during the fourth quarter worth about $60,000. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BCE Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $23.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $22.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.92. The stock has a market cap of $22.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.83 and a beta of 0.51. BCE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.87 and a 52-week high of $26.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.73.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. BCE had a net margin of 25.49% and a return on equity of 12.90%. The company had revenue of $4.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.35 billion. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.798-1.919 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BCE, Inc. will post 1.87 EPS for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. BCE’s payout ratio is 25.97%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of BCE from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on BCE in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered BCE from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Bank of America upgraded BCE from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $24.50 to $27.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, TD Securities upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.25.

About BCE

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.