BCE (NYSE:BCE) Announces Earnings Results

BCE (NYSE:BCE – Get Rating) (TSE:BCE) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.25, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $5.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.86 billion. BCE had a net margin of 11.83% and a return on equity of 15.67%. BCE’s revenue was up 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.62 EPS. BCE updated its FY22 guidance to $3.25-3.41 EPS.

Shares of NYSE:BCE opened at $53.91 on Friday. 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 has a 1-year low of $48.12 and a 1-year high of $59.34. The company has a market capitalization of $49.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.81, a P/E/G ratio of 4.61 and a beta of 0.47. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $55.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.97.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 15th will be issued a $0.715 dividend. This represents a $2.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.31%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 14th. BCE’s payout ratio is 110.81%.

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Autumn Glory Partners LLC purchased a new position in BCE during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $270,000. JustInvest LLC lifted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in BCE by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 3,758 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in BCE by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 504,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,235,000 after purchasing an additional 44,456 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in BCE by 58.9% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 917,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,798,000 after purchasing an additional 340,081 shares in the last quarter. 44.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

A number of analysts have weighed in on BCE shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of BCE from C$69.00 to C$70.00 in a research note on Friday, February 4th. Bank of America downgraded shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, March 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on shares of BCE from C$71.00 to C$70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of BCE from C$69.00 to C$70.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, National Bank Financial raised their price target on shares of BCE from C$70.00 to C$71.00 in a report on Friday, February 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.33.

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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