Research Analysts Set Expectations for BCE FY2026 Earnings

BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) – Stock analysts at Scotiabank decreased their FY2026 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for BCE in a research note issued on Wednesday, February 11th. Scotiabank analyst M. Yaghi now expects that the utilities provider will earn $1.86 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $2.04. Scotiabank has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for BCE’s current full-year earnings is $1.94 per share.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Barrington Research raised shares of BCE from an “underperform” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Wall Street Zen cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 28th. Barclays reduced their price objective on BCE from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded BCE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

BCE Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of BCE stock opened at $25.71 on Monday. BCE has a 12-month low of $20.28 and a 12-month high of $26.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.24 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. BCE had a return on equity of 16.30% and a net margin of 26.14%.The company had revenue of $4.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.55 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS.

BCE Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 25.46%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BCE

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. Canerector Inc. boosted its stake in BCE by 3,152.0% in the third quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 8,130,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $190,161,000 after acquiring an additional 7,880,000 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of BCE by 99.4% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 14,006,153 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $310,682,000 after acquiring an additional 6,981,281 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of BCE in the 4th quarter valued at $91,811,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec boosted its position in shares of BCE by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 34,107,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $797,161,000 after purchasing an additional 3,024,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cullen Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BCE by 77.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC now owns 6,389,865 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $149,459,000 after purchasing an additional 2,792,485 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

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.