BCE (NYSE:BCE) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at TD Securities

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) was downgraded by TD Securities from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Finviz reports.

BCE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Monday, January 12th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Barrington Research raised shares of BCE from an “underperform” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $21.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of BCE from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.67.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at $25.39 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.55. BCE has a one year low of $20.28 and a one year high of $26.52. The stock has a market cap of $23.67 billion, a PE ratio of 5.17 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.20.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.04. BCE had a net margin of 26.14% and a return on equity of 15.39%. The firm had revenue of $4.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.55 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.790-1.910 EPS. On average, analysts predict that BCE will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FIL Ltd increased its stake in shares of BCE by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 37,579,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $896,398,000 after buying an additional 1,992,000 shares during the period. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec boosted its position in BCE by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 34,107,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $797,161,000 after buying an additional 3,024,110 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in BCE by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,020,124 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $429,834,000 after acquiring an additional 700,797 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in BCE by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 17,136,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $408,749,000 after acquiring an additional 2,250,106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of BCE by 15.8% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,212,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $378,981,000 after acquiring an additional 2,206,385 shares during the period. 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.