BCE (NYSE:BCE) Releases FY22 Earnings Guidance

BCE (NYSE:BCE – Get Rating) (TSE:BCE) issued an update on its FY22 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $3.25-3.41 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $3.36. The company issued revenue guidance of $23.68-24.62 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $24.21 billion.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BCE. National Bank Financial increased their price target on BCE from C$70.00 to C$71.00 in a research note on Friday, February 4th. StockNews.com started coverage on BCE in a research note on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Desjardins lifted their price target on BCE from C$66.50 to C$68.00 in a report on Monday, February 7th. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of BCE from C$65.00 to C$67.00 in a report on Friday, February 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of BCE from C$65.00 to C$66.00 in a report on Friday, February 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $65.64.

BCE opened at $54.50 on Thursday. BCE has a 52-week low of $47.59 and a 52-week high of $59.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $55.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.93. The company has a market cap of $49.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43.

BCE (NYSE:BCE – Get Rating) (TSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.05. BCE had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 15.67%. The business had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.62 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that BCE will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BCE. JustInvest LLC raised its stake in shares of BCE by 27.4% during the fourth quarter. JustInvest LLC now owns 8,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 1,862 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of BCE by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 504,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,235,000 after acquiring an additional 44,456 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its position in shares of BCE by 58.9% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 917,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,798,000 after buying an additional 340,081 shares in the last quarter. Autumn Glory Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of BCE in the fourth quarter worth $270,000. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of BCE by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,227,000 after buying an additional 3,758 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 44.77% of the company’s stock.

About BCE (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.

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