BCE (NYSE:BCE) Stock Rating Upgraded by Barrington Research

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) was upgraded by research analysts at Barrington Research from an “underperform” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has a $26.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $21.00. Barrington Research’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 2.83% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on BCE. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. CIBC upgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Barclays lowered their target price on BCE from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.00.

BCE Stock Down 0.9%

BCE stock opened at $25.29 on Tuesday. BCE has a fifty-two week low of $20.28 and a fifty-two week high of $26.01. The company has a market capitalization of $23.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $23.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.58.

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

Institutional Trading of BCE

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BCE. Canerector Inc. grew its stake in BCE by 3,152.0% during the 3rd quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 8,130,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $190,161,000 after buying an additional 7,880,000 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in BCE by 99.4% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 14,006,153 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $310,682,000 after acquiring an additional 6,981,281 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of BCE during the second quarter valued at about $81,315,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec raised its position in shares of BCE by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 34,107,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $797,161,000 after purchasing an additional 3,024,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cullen Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of BCE by 77.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,792,485 shares during the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently 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.