BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Receives $45.33 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $45.33.

Several equities analysts recently commented on BCE shares. Cibc World Mkts upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BCE

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BCE. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BCE in the second quarter worth $1,909,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in shares of BCE by 7.2% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,768,597 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $89,622,000 after buying an additional 185,943 shares in the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of BCE by 11.8% in the second quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 9,475 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in shares of BCE by 5.0% in the second quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 210,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,818,000 after buying an additional 9,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of BCE by 19.3% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 7,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 1,230 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Stock Performance

BCE stock opened at $35.40 on Tuesday. BCE has a 12-month low of $31.13 and a 12-month high of $41.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The business has a 50 day moving average of $34.18 and a 200-day moving average of $33.87. The firm has a market cap of $32.29 billion, a PE ratio of 24.58, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.58.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. BCE had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 8.39%. The business had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BCE will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given 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 dividend yield of 8.24%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 204.86%.

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.