Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Acquires 845,961 Shares of BCE, Inc. $BCE

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 99.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,692,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 845,961 shares during the period. BCE makes up 1.2% of Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. owned 0.18% of BCE worth $39,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in BCE by 99.4% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 14,006,153 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $310,682,000 after purchasing an additional 6,981,281 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of BCE in the second quarter worth $81,315,000. Cullen Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 77.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC now owns 6,389,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $149,459,000 after buying an additional 2,792,485 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 288.3% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,636,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $58,450,000 after buying an additional 1,957,508 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in BCE by 16,698.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,740,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,721,000 after buying an additional 1,730,605 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 28th. Barclays decreased their target price on BCE from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings raised BCE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Barrington Research raised BCE from an “underperform” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.00.

BCE Price Performance

NYSE:BCE opened at $25.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.04 billion, a PE ratio of 5.25 and a beta of 0.60. BCE, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.28 and a 12 month high of $26.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $24.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.55 billion. BCE had a net margin of 26.14% and a return on equity of 16.30%. BCE’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 25.46%.

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.