BCE (NYSE:BCE) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday.

BCE has been the topic of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded BCE from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Barclays reduced their price objective on BCE from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, CIBC raised BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.00.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $23.39 on Friday. BCE has a 1 year low of $20.28 and a 1 year high of $26.01. The firm has a market cap of $21.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.58.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.05. BCE had a return on equity of 17.35% and a net margin of 25.62%.The business had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. BCE has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. Research analysts forecast that BCE will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BCE

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its stake in BCE by 27.6% in the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,627,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,755,000 after purchasing an additional 352,151 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BCE in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,181,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc bought a new position in shares of BCE in the second quarter valued at $4,644,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of BCE by 13.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 567,694 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,034,000 after buying an additional 65,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in BCE during the first quarter worth $268,000. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BCE Company Profile

BCE Inc (NYSE: BCE) is a Canadian communications, media and entertainment company that operates through its primary subsidiaries, including Bell Canada and Bell Media. As a large integrated telecommunications provider, BCE delivers a broad range of connectivity services and content to residential, business and wholesale customers across Canada. The company combines network infrastructure with media assets to offer bundled communications and entertainment solutions.

On the services side, BCE provides fixed-line and wireless voice services, mobile data, high-speed internet, fibre and broadband access, and television services through platforms such as Bell Fibe and Bell TV.