BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Receives $28.00 Average Target Price from Analysts

BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $28.00.

BCE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Monday, January 12th. Barrington Research raised BCE from an “underperform” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $21.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. TD Securities reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of BCE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BCE

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 27.6% during the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,627,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,755,000 after acquiring an additional 352,151 shares during the period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new position in BCE during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,181,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc acquired a new stake in shares of BCE in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,644,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BCE by 74.9% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 624,092 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,598,000 after purchasing an additional 267,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of BCE by 16,698.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,740,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,721,000 after buying an additional 1,730,605 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BCE Trading Up 0.8%

BCE opened at $25.78 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.00. BCE has a fifty-two week low of $20.28 and a fifty-two week high of $26.49. The company has a market cap of $24.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.25 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.55 billion. BCE had a net margin of 26.14% and a return on equity of 16.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BCE will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.46%.

About BCE

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.