BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nine brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $28.6667.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. TD Securities downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Barrington Research raised BCE from an “underperform” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $21.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BCE

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in BCE by 74.9% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 624,092 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,598,000 after acquiring an additional 267,313 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in BCE by 16,698.2% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,740,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,721,000 after acquiring an additional 1,730,605 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in BCE by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,319,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $404,701,000 after acquiring an additional 608,264 shares during the period. Cullen Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in BCE by 77.6% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC now owns 6,389,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $149,459,000 after acquiring an additional 2,792,485 shares during the period. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management boosted its holdings in BCE by 2,287.8% during the 3rd quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 587,488 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,727,000 after acquiring an additional 562,884 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE BCE opened at $23.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.24 billion, a PE ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.55. BCE has a 1-year low of $20.28 and a 1-year high of $26.52.

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

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be given 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 7.3%. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 26.07%.

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.