BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $29.25.

BCE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Barclays decreased their price objective on BCE from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of BCE from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of BCE in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Finally, TD Securities upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BCE

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FIL Ltd increased its position in BCE by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 37,579,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $896,398,000 after acquiring an additional 1,992,000 shares during the period. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 3,024,110 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in BCE by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 17,296,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $436,320,000 after acquiring an additional 160,310 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in BCE by 3,283.1% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 16,717,778 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $359,599,000 after acquiring an additional 16,223,620 shares during the period. Finally, Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec lifted its position in BCE by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 8,744,821 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $208,459,000 after acquiring an additional 511,011 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE BCE opened at $23.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.69. BCE has a 1 year low of $20.87 and a 1 year high of $26.52. The company has a market capitalization of $21.80 billion, a PE ratio of 4.78, a P/E/G ratio of 6.03 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a fifty day moving average of $22.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.80.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.01. BCE had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 25.49%.The business had revenue of $4.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.35 billion. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.798-1.919 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that BCE will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be paid a $0.4375 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.5%. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 25.77%.

About BCE

BCE Inc is a Canadian communications and media company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Through its Bell operations, the company provides wireless and wireline telecommunications services, including mobile voice and data plans, high-speed internet, telephone services, and business communications solutions.

BCE also offers television services, including conventional, satellite, and internet-based television, as well as digital content and streaming products. Its media operations include television networks, specialty channels, digital media properties, and sports and news programming.