BCE (NYSE:BCE) Releases FY24 Earnings Guidance

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $2.99 to $3.15 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.23. The company issued revenue guidance of $24.67 billion to $25.66 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $18.21 billion.

BCE Price Performance

NYSE:BCE traded up $0.61 on Friday, hitting $33.60. The company had a trading volume of 2,259,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,339,421. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $34.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.33, a PEG ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 0.56. BCE has a 52 week low of $31.82 and a 52 week high of $48.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a return on equity of 16.70% and a net margin of 7.53%. The firm had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.82 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that BCE will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.738 per share. This represents a $2.95 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. BCE’s payout ratio is 204.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. CIBC raised shares of BCE from a neutral rating to a sector outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a market perform rating and set a $46.00 target price (down previously from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays lowered their target price 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. Finally, Argus downgraded BCE from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $49.00.

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.