BCE (NYSE:BCE) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $26.52 and last traded at $26.43, with a volume of 1434295 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $26.23.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BCE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Securities restated a “buy” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Barclays decreased their target price on BCE from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Wall Street Zen cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, December 28th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised BCE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.00.

BCE Stock Up 0.8%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.58. The company has a market capitalization of $24.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.38 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.06.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.55 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 16.30% and a net margin of 26.14%.BCE’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that BCE, Inc. will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.6%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is 25.46%.

Institutional Trading of BCE

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BCE. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted 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 worth $36,755,000 after acquiring an additional 352,151 shares during the period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in BCE during the second quarter valued at $3,181,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc purchased a new stake in BCE during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,644,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of BCE by 74.9% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 624,092 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,598,000 after acquiring an additional 267,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of BCE by 16,698.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,730,605 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.