BCE (NYSE:BCE) Price Target Lowered to $34.00 at Barclays

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) had its price objective trimmed by Barclays from $35.00 to $34.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on BCE. National Bank Financial lowered BCE from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded BCE from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $46.33.

BCE Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of BCE opened at $33.02 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $34.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.73. BCE has a 12-month low of $31.13 and a 12-month high of $41.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The firm has a market cap of $30.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 0.58.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BCE will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.729 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.83%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 186.16%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BCE

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in BCE by 171.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,284,802 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $168,736,000 after acquiring an additional 2,708,625 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $551,505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217,262 shares in the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of BCE by 5,036.0% during the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 1,354,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328,042 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of BCE by 23.8% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,520,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $178,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in BCE by 44.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,351,436 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,599,000 after buying an additional 1,033,134 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Company Profile

BCE Inc, a communications company, provides wireless, wireline, Internet, and television (TV) services to residential, business, and wholesale customers in Canada. The company operates through two segments, Bell Communication and Technology Services, and Bell Media. The Bell Communication and Technology Services segment provides wireless products and services including mobile data and voice plans and devices; wireline products and services comprising data, including internet access, internet protocol television, cloud-based services, and business solutions, as well as voice, and other communication services and products; and satellite TV and connectivity services for residential, small and medium-sized business, government, and large enterprise customers.