BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) have received an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.00.

A number of research firms have recently commented on BCE. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Bank of America cut shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of BCE in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “underweight” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays restated an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st.

Institutional Trading of BCE

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in BCE by 623.9% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 9,398,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $217,573,000 after purchasing an additional 8,100,000 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in BCE during the fourth quarter valued at $87,643,000. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in BCE by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 19,945,799 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $462,262,000 after purchasing an additional 3,624,953 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in BCE by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 10,569,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $244,692,000 after purchasing an additional 2,706,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its stake in BCE by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 26,292,783 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $609,465,000 after purchasing an additional 2,322,474 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE BCE opened at $25.18 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.13. BCE has a 52 week low of $21.87 and a 52 week high of $36.81. 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 cap of $23.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 209.79, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.57.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a net margin of 0.99% and a return on equity of 17.89%. Equities research analysts predict that BCE will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.6965 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $2.79 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.07%. BCE’s payout ratio is 2,291.67%.

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.