Geode Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in BCE, Inc. $BCE

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 14.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,462,464 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 183,734 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in BCE were worth $35,624,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in shares of BCE by 9.3% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 23,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $534,000 after acquiring an additional 1,986 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in BCE by 649.7% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 66,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,529,000 after purchasing an additional 57,696 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in BCE by 59.2% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 33,847 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $777,000 after purchasing an additional 12,590 shares during the last quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. increased its stake in BCE by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. now owns 5,202,254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $119,389,000 after purchasing an additional 567,705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in BCE by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,101,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $369,574,000 after buying an additional 222,432 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Desjardins raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. CIBC reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised BCE from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of BCE from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.00.

BCE Price Performance

NYSE BCE opened at $23.22 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $23.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.31. BCE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $20.28 and a 52 week high of $27.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.05, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.62.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.05. BCE had a net margin of 1.96% and a return on equity of 18.89%. The company had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. BCE has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.5%. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 25.78%.

About BCE

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.