Bank of Nova Scotia Sells 1,897,980 Shares of BCE, Inc. $BCE

Bank of Nova Scotia lessened its holdings in BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,886,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,897,980 shares during the period. BCE accounts for about 0.6% of Bank of Nova Scotia’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Bank of Nova Scotia owned approximately 1.60% of BCE worth $347,881,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning increased its position in BCE by 34.9% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 116,142 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,717,000 after buying an additional 30,044 shares during the last quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of BCE by 28.0% in the third quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 200,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,674,000 after buying an additional 43,800 shares during the last quarter. Credit Agricole S A acquired a new stake in shares of BCE in the third quarter worth about $533,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 418,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,784,000 after acquiring an additional 3,782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 960,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,284,000 after acquiring an additional 43,174 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Weiss Ratings raised BCE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Barrington Research upgraded BCE from an “underperform” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $21.00 to $26.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

BCE Price Performance

NYSE BCE opened at $25.57 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.11. BCE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.28 and a twelve month high of $26.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.84 billion, a PE ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.58.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.55 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 15.39% and a net margin of 26.14%.The company’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a $0.4375 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.8%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.07%.

BCE Profile

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.