BCE (NYSE:BCE) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Cibc Captl Mkts upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of BCE from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, TD Securities upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.00.

BCE Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE:BCE opened at $22.85 on Friday. BCE has a 1-year low of $20.28 and a 1-year high of $26.01. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $23.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.75 and a beta of 0.61.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.35% and a net margin of 25.62%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. BCE has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that BCE will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of BCE

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BCE. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BCE by 1.4% during the third quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 32,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $767,000 after buying an additional 461 shares during the period. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ lifted its stake in BCE by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ now owns 23,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $547,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BCE by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,802 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $112,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of BCE by 15.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of BCE by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 14,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Company Profile

BCE Inc (NYSE: BCE) is a Canadian communications, media and entertainment company that operates through its primary subsidiaries, including Bell Canada and Bell Media. As a large integrated telecommunications provider, BCE delivers a broad range of connectivity services and content to residential, business and wholesale customers across Canada. The company combines network infrastructure with media assets to offer bundled communications and entertainment solutions.

On the services side, BCE provides fixed-line and wireless voice services, mobile data, high-speed internet, fibre and broadband access, and television services through platforms such as Bell Fibe and Bell TV.