BCE (NYSE:BCE) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by BMO Capital Markets

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reaffirmed by BMO Capital Markets in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $46.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock, down from their previous target price of $54.00. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 39.44% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on BCE. Argus lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Barclays lowered their price target on BCE from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 12th. TD Securities cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.75.

BCE Trading Up 0.2 %

BCE stock opened at $32.99 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $30.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.53, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.39. BCE has a 52 week low of $32.38 and a 52 week high of $48.38.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.82 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 8.82%. On average, equities research analysts expect that BCE will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of BCE by 6.0% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,928,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,615,000 after purchasing an additional 109,866 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of BCE by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 15,712,011 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $575,871,000 after acquiring an additional 323,998 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 57.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,318,302 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $88,908,000 after acquiring an additional 843,626 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in shares of BCE by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 29,477 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,161,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Claret Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in BCE by 54.2% during the third quarter. Claret Asset Management Corp now owns 86,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,307,000 after purchasing an additional 30,444 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

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 three segments: Bell Wireless, Bell Wireline, and Bell Media. The Bell Wireless segment offers integrated digital wireless voice and data communication products and services, as well as consumer electronics products.