BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $28.6667.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Securities lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on BCE from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th.

Institutional Trading of BCE

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd lifted its position in shares of BCE by 735.3% during the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022 shares in the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in shares of BCE during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Ascentis Independent Advisors bought a new position in BCE in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in BCE by 1,642.0% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,411 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,330 shares during the period. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC bought a new position in BCE in the 4th quarter valued at $60,000. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BCE Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:BCE opened at $22.95 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $24.08 and a 200-day moving average of $24.53. The company has a market cap of $21.40 billion, a PE ratio of 4.66 and a beta of 0.50. BCE has a one year low of $21.71 and a one year high of $26.52.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.38 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 13.87% and a net margin of 25.66%.BCE’s quarterly revenue was up 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.69 EPS. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BCE will post 1.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.6%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.81%.

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.