BCE (NYSE:BCE) PT Raised to $51.00

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) had its target price boosted by stock analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $48.00 to $51.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 45.55% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, Cibc World Mkts raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.67.

BCE Price Performance

NYSE:BCE opened at $35.04 on Thursday. BCE has a 1-year low of $31.13 and a 1-year 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 fifty day simple moving average of $34.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.97 billion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.58.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. The business had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that BCE will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BCE

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BCE. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 1,090 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in BCE in the fourth quarter valued at about $97,874,000. UBS Group AG raised its stake in BCE by 32.6% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 862,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,983,000 after purchasing an additional 212,047 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in BCE by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 24,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $948,000 after purchasing an additional 981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in BCE by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 40,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,586,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

About BCE

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.