Royal Bank Of Canada Issues Positive Forecast for BCE (NYSE:BCE) Stock Price

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) had its target price raised by Royal Bank Of Canada from $38.00 to $39.00 in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 28th. Weiss Ratings raised BCE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Barrington Research upgraded BCE from an “underperform” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $21.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.67.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE opened at $26.02 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.30 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.58. BCE has a 1 year low of $20.28 and a 1 year high of $26.52. The company’s fifty day moving average is $25.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.12.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.04. BCE had a net margin of 26.14% and a return on equity of 15.39%. The company had revenue of $4.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that BCE will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.7%. BCE’s payout ratio is 26.07%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BCE

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FIL Ltd boosted its position in BCE by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 37,579,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $896,398,000 after purchasing an additional 1,992,000 shares in the last quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec increased its position in shares of BCE by 9.7% in the third quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 34,107,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $797,161,000 after buying an additional 3,024,110 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of BCE by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,020,124 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $429,834,000 after buying an additional 700,797 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in shares of BCE by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 17,136,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $408,749,000 after buying an additional 2,250,106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of BCE by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,212,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $378,981,000 after buying an additional 2,206,385 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About BCE

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.