BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Receives $49.00 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $49.00.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on BCE shares. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Argus cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective (down previously from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, TD Securities cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BCE

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in BCE by 53.5% during the 1st quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 13,375,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $742,107,000 after buying an additional 4,661,300 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 400.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,570,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $136,294,000 after purchasing an additional 2,857,340 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 171.8% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,284,802 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $168,736,000 after purchasing an additional 2,708,625 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of BCE in the 4th quarter valued at $117,492,000. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $551,505,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217,262 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BCE Stock Performance

BCE stock opened at $32.60 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.81. BCE has a 1-year low of $31.82 and a 1-year high of $48.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $29.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.56.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.82 billion. On average, analysts expect that BCE will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.742 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.11%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is 174.56%.

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.