BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.67.

BCE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. National Bankshares restated a “sector perform” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of BCE in a report on Wednesday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BCE

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in BCE by 170.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 11,679,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $268,164,000 after purchasing an additional 7,365,253 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in BCE by 4.0% in the first quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,134 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in BCE by 16.7% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 1,063,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,091,000 after purchasing an additional 151,903 shares during the last quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec boosted its holdings in BCE by 94.4% in the first quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 10,649,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $243,966,000 after purchasing an additional 5,171,655 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in BCE in the first quarter worth approximately $264,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $21.55 on Friday. BCE has a 1 year low of $20.28 and a 1 year high of $36.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The company’s 50-day moving average is $22.19 and its 200 day moving average is $23.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 179.54, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.63.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.04. BCE had a net margin of 0.99% and a return on equity of 17.89%. The company had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. BCE’s quarterly revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BCE will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

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.