BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $45.33.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on BCE shares. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. CIBC upgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE:BCE opened at $33.37 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $33.08 and a 200-day moving average of $35.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.17, a P/E/G ratio of 5.54 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. BCE has a twelve month low of $31.13 and a twelve month high of $43.65.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.53. The company had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.47 billion. BCE had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 16.86%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BCE will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.738 per share. This represents a $2.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is 201.39%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BCE

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc boosted its holdings in BCE by 133.1% during the 2nd quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc now owns 157,825 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,109,000 after acquiring an additional 90,128 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Capital Group boosted its holdings in BCE by 21.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 8,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $289,000 after acquiring an additional 1,595 shares during the last quarter. &PARTNERS purchased a new position in BCE during the 2nd quarter worth $298,000. Caldwell Sutter Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in BCE by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. Caldwell Sutter Capital Inc. now owns 11,411 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $369,000 after acquiring an additional 1,018 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. purchased a new position in BCE during the 2nd quarter worth $195,000. 41.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.