BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Receives $38.67 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, one has given a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $38.67.

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. National Bankshares reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. National Bank Financial raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Scotiabank upgraded BCE from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of BCE in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at $22.81 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $21.77 and a 200 day moving average of $23.08. BCE has a 52 week low of $20.28 and a 52 week high of $36.17. The company has a market cap of $21.27 billion, a PE ratio of 190.08, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.04. BCE had a net margin of 0.99% and a return on equity of 17.89%. The business had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BCE will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a $0.4375 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a dividend yield of 5.65%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 488.46%.

Institutional Trading of BCE

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BCE. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 154.8% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 52,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,206,000 after purchasing an additional 31,607 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its stake in BCE by 108,040.0% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $124,000 after acquiring an additional 5,402 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BCE during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,233,000. Capital Advisors Inc. OK grew its stake in shares of BCE by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 562,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,037,000 after acquiring an additional 48,997 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of BCE by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,878,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $368,073,000 after acquiring an additional 411,911 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.