BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $28.00.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BCE shares. Barrington Research raised BCE from an “underperform” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 28th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th.

BCE Price Performance

BCE opened at $25.71 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $23.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.24 and a beta of 0.60. BCE has a 12 month low of $20.28 and a 12 month high of $26.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.94.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. BCE had a return on equity of 16.30% and a net margin of 26.14%.The firm had revenue of $4.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. The company’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, research analysts expect that BCE will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.46%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BCE

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BCE. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 27.6% during the 2nd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,627,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,755,000 after acquiring an additional 352,151 shares during the period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new stake in BCE in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,181,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc acquired a new stake in BCE during the 2nd quarter valued at $4,644,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in BCE by 74.9% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 624,092 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,598,000 after purchasing an additional 267,313 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 16,698.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,740,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,721,000 after purchasing an additional 1,730,605 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.