BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE – Get Rating) (TSE:BCE) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $65.64.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BCE. National Bank Financial raised their price objective on BCE from C$70.00 to C$71.00 in a research note on Friday, February 4th. Bank of America lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 14th. CIBC raised their price objective on BCE from C$65.00 to C$67.00 in a research note on Friday, February 4th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on BCE in a report on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on BCE from C$69.00 to C$70.00 in a report on Friday, February 4th.

Shares of NYSE:BCE opened at $57.94 on Tuesday. BCE has a 12 month low of $46.22 and a 12 month high of $58.72. The stock has a market cap of $52.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 4.92 and a beta of 0.46. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $54.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.63.

BCE (NYSE:BCE – Get Rating) (TSE:BCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.05. BCE had a return on equity of 15.67% and a net margin of 11.83%. The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BCE will post 2.65 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.35%. This is a positive change from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 120.08%.

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 186.1% during the fourth quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 68,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,548,000 after acquiring an additional 44,345 shares in the last quarter. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 1.9% during the third quarter. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 799,151 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,005,000 after acquiring an additional 14,659 shares in the last quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 9.3% during the third quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 851,651 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,655,000 after acquiring an additional 72,301 shares in the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 56,226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,926,000 after acquiring an additional 2,388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of BCE by 46.9% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,292,473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $114,761,000 after buying an additional 732,306 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 43.83% of the company’s stock.

BCE Company Profile (Get Rating)

BCE Inc operates as a telecommunications and media company in Canada. The company offers wireless, wireline, Internet, and television (TV) services to residential, business, and wholesale customers. It operates through three segments: Bell Wireless, Bell Wireline, and Bell Media. The Bell Wireless segment provides wireless voice and data communication products and services, and consumer electronics products.

Further Reading