National Bank Financial Reduces Earnings Estimates for BCE

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) – Analysts at National Bank Financial decreased their FY2025 EPS estimates for BCE in a research note issued on Thursday, December 12th. National Bank Financial analyst A. Shine now expects that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $1.82 for the year, down from their prior estimate of $1.89. National Bank Financial has a “Hold” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for BCE’s current full-year earnings is $2.14 per share.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on BCE. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of BCE from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Edward Jones cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

BCE Trading Down 3.7 %

NYSE:BCE opened at $23.88 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 341.07, a PEG ratio of 4.04 and a beta of 0.54. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.32. BCE has a 12 month low of $23.82 and a 12 month high of $41.77.

Institutional Trading of BCE

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in shares of BCE by 4.8% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,873,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,421,000 after purchasing an additional 864,472 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in shares of BCE by 12.0% in the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 8,450,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $273,553,000 after purchasing an additional 905,857 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of BCE by 23.8% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,520,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $178,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061,488 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in BCE by 0.4% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,068,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $163,932,000 after acquiring an additional 21,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in BCE by 5.5% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,564,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $115,379,000 after acquiring an additional 186,659 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 16th will be given a $0.737 dividend. This is a positive change from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.73. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 16th. This represents a $2.95 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.35%. BCE’s payout ratio 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.