BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the seven ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $49.00.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Argus lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. TD Securities lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target (down from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd.

Institutional Trading of BCE

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,928,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,615,000 after buying an additional 109,866 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 15,712,011 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $575,871,000 after buying an additional 323,998 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 57.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,318,302 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $88,908,000 after buying an additional 843,626 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 29,477 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,161,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Claret Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 54.2% during the 3rd quarter. Claret Asset Management Corp now owns 86,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,307,000 after buying an additional 30,444 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Price Performance

NYSE:BCE opened at $32.24 on Friday. BCE has a 52 week low of $31.82 and a 52 week high of $48.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.41 billion, a PE ratio of 19.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.32 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $35.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.88.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 8.82%. The firm had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.82 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that BCE will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.742 dividend. This represents a $2.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.21%. This is a positive change from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 174.56%.

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.