Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich Makes New Investment in BCE, Inc. $BCE

Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich bought a new position in shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 171,403 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,691,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. FIL Ltd grew its holdings in BCE by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 37,579,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $896,398,000 after purchasing an additional 1,992,000 shares during the period. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec increased its stake in BCE by 9.7% in the third quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 34,107,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $797,161,000 after purchasing an additional 3,024,110 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in BCE by 0.9% in the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 17,296,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $436,320,000 after purchasing an additional 160,310 shares during the period. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec raised its holdings in BCE by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 8,744,821 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $208,459,000 after purchasing an additional 511,011 shares during the period. Finally, Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of BCE by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Letko Brosseau & Associates Inc. now owns 7,338,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $175,277,000 after purchasing an additional 292,690 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of BCE from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. TD Securities raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Friday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on BCE in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Friday, August 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.25.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE opened at $23.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.85, a PEG ratio of 6.18 and a beta of 0.52. BCE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.87 and a twelve month 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. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $22.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.88.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.35 billion. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.798-1.919 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that BCE, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

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

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.