Scotiabank Has Pessimistic View of BCE FY2024 Earnings

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) – Stock analysts at Scotiabank cut their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of BCE in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank analyst M. Yaghi now forecasts that the utilities provider will post earnings of $2.13 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $2.27. The consensus estimate for BCE’s current full-year earnings is $2.14 per share. Scotiabank also issued estimates for BCE’s FY2025 earnings at $2.00 EPS.

BCE has been the subject of several other reports. National Bank Financial downgraded BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Edward Jones downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays dropped their price objective on BCE from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BCE presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.00.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE:BCE opened at $22.95 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $25.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.96. The company has a market cap of $20.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 327.86, a PEG ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.62. BCE has a fifty-two week low of $22.18 and a fifty-two week high of $41.77.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of BCE by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 43,402 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of BCE by 25.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,282,000 after acquiring an additional 738,656 shares during the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of BCE by 55.9% during the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 12,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after acquiring an additional 4,605 shares during the last quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. increased its position in BCE by 4.5% in the third quarter. Logan Capital Management Inc. now owns 103,643 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,607,000 after buying an additional 4,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Old North State Trust LLC increased its position in BCE by 25.2% in the third quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 7,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $271,000 after buying an additional 1,566 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.737 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.95 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.85%. This is a boost from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.73. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4,214.29%.

BCE Company Profile

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.