Mufg Securities Canada LTD. Sells 123,201 Shares of BCE, Inc. $BCE

Mufg Securities Canada LTD. trimmed its holdings in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,419,886 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 123,201 shares during the quarter. BCE comprises 0.9% of Mufg Securities Canada LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Mufg Securities Canada LTD. owned about 0.15% of BCE worth $33,877,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in BCE by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,806,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,034,000 after purchasing an additional 65,650 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in BCE by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,319,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $404,701,000 after purchasing an additional 608,264 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in BCE by 23.3% during the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,848,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $91,794,000 after purchasing an additional 727,860 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its holdings in BCE by 2,287.8% during the 3rd quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 587,488 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,727,000 after purchasing an additional 562,884 shares during the last quarter. Finally, K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc raised its holdings in BCE by 22.8% during the 3rd quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 257,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,982,000 after purchasing an additional 47,756 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at $24.57 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.99 and a beta of 0.50. BCE, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.58 and a 1 year high of $26.52. The business has a 50-day moving average of $24.22 and a 200-day moving average of $24.53. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.43 billion during 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%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.69 EPS. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that BCE, Inc. will post 1.9 EPS for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $0.4375 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.1%. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 26.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on BCE. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on BCE from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, TD Securities cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.67.

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.