BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $46.67.

Several research firms recently commented on BCE. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, National Bank Financial downgraded shares of BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th.

Institutional Trading of BCE

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Verity & Verity LLC increased its stake in shares of BCE by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 405,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,110,000 after purchasing an additional 11,006 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BCE during the 2nd quarter worth $1,909,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,768,597 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $89,622,000 after purchasing an additional 185,943 shares during the period. SPC Financial Inc. raised its holdings in BCE by 11.8% in the second quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 9,475 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp raised its stake in shares of BCE by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 210,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,818,000 after acquiring an additional 9,954 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Price Performance

BCE opened at $33.71 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.58. BCE has a 52-week low of $31.13 and a 52-week high of $41.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.76.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that BCE will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.729 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.65%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 204.86%.

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.