John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Lowers Holdings in BCE, Inc. $BCE

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. trimmed its holdings in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 104,815 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,933 shares during the period. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in BCE were worth $2,324,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in BCE in the second quarter valued at $28,000. SVB Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of BCE in the first quarter worth about $35,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new position in shares of BCE in the second quarter worth about $40,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of BCE in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of BCE in the first quarter worth about $47,000. 41.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BCE. National Bankshares reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Cibc World Mkts downgraded shares of BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of BCE from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $35.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Desjardins upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.50.

BCE Stock Up 2.5%

BCE stock opened at $24.28 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.73, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.01. 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 $33.76.

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

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.