BCE Inc. Expected to Post Q1 2024 Earnings of $0.70 Per Share (TSE:BCE)

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) – Equities research analysts at Cormark issued their Q1 2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of BCE in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, April 18th. Cormark analyst D. Mcfadgen anticipates that the company will post earnings of $0.70 per share for the quarter. The consensus estimate for BCE’s current full-year earnings is $3.04 per share.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on BCE. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of BCE from C$57.00 to C$55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. BMO Capital Markets cut BCE from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from C$54.00 to C$46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on BCE from C$57.00 to C$54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. National Bankshares lowered their target price on BCE from C$55.00 to C$53.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of BCE from C$55.50 to C$53.25 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$52.48.

BCE Stock Performance

TSE BCE opened at C$44.80 on Friday. BCE has a 1 year low of C$43.96 and a 1 year high of C$65.66. The firm has a market cap of C$40.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.65, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a fifty day moving average price of C$47.53 and a 200-day moving average price of C$51.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.98, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported C$0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.73 by C$0.03. BCE had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 9.17%. The business had revenue of C$6.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$6.48 billion.

BCE Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a $0.998 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.91%. This is an increase from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 175.00%.

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.