Nicola Wealth Management LTD. Purchases 96,600 Shares of BCE, Inc. $BCE

Nicola Wealth Management LTD. grew its stake in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 15.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 729,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 96,600 shares during the quarter. BCE makes up about 1.6% of Nicola Wealth Management LTD.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. owned approximately 0.08% of BCE worth $17,392,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 735.3% in the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 64.8% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217 shares in the last quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 34.6% in the second quarter. Binnacle Investments Inc now owns 3,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 913 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 92.9% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 2,081 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in shares of BCE in the third quarter valued at approximately $96,000. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on BCE shares. Barrington Research upgraded BCE from an “underperform” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $21.00 to $26.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded BCE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. TD Securities lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on BCE from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.67.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at $24.61 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.00 and a beta of 0.48. BCE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.09 and a 12 month high of $26.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.38 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 13.87% and a net margin of 25.66%.BCE’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.69 earnings per share. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that BCE, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 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 7.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.02%.

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.