BCE (NYSE:BCE) Upgraded at Cibc Captl Mkts

Cibc Captl Mkts upgraded shares of BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on BCE. CIBC upgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Barclays decreased their price objective 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. TD Securities upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.00.

BCE Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of BCE stock opened at $23.40 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.82 billion, a PE ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 0.61. BCE has a 1-year low of $20.28 and a 1-year high of $26.01. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.42.

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

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be paid a $0.4375 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.5%. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 26.40%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BCE

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of BCE by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,101,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $369,574,000 after buying an additional 222,432 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in BCE by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 287,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,608,000 after acquiring an additional 6,513 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its position in BCE by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 11,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 1,029 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in BCE by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,664,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,175,000 after acquiring an additional 258,861 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in BCE in the first quarter worth $1,400,000. 41.46% of the stock is 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.