BCE (NYSE:BCE) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy” Rating

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

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on BCE. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays dropped 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. Cibc Captl Mkts upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of BCE from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $37.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, CIBC raised shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BCE has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.00.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $22.85 on Friday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $23.29 and a 200-day moving average of $23.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.75 and a beta of 0.61. BCE has a fifty-two week low of $20.28 and a fifty-two week high of $26.01.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.05. BCE had a return on equity of 17.35% and a net margin of 25.62%.The firm had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue 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, sell-side analysts predict that BCE will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of BCE

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in BCE by 735.3% in the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank bought a new stake in BCE during the second quarter worth $28,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in BCE during the third quarter worth $31,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 2,459.6% in the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 1,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of BCE in the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors 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.