BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Receives Average Rating of "Reduce" from Analysts

BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE has received a consensus rating of "Reduce" from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.67.

BCE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. National Bank Financial raised BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. National Bankshares reissued a "sector perform" rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Cibc World Mkts lowered BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of BCE in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Scotiabank raised BCE from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd.

Institutional Trading of BCE

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BCE. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of BCE by 108,040.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,407 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $124,000 after acquiring an additional 5,402 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of BCE by 154.8% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 52,027 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,206,000 after purchasing an additional 31,607 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BCE in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,233,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,878,904 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $368,073,000 after purchasing an additional 411,911 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in BCE by 114.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,548,165 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $39,384,000 after acquiring an additional 825,098 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BCE Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:BCE traded up $0.60 during trading on Monday, hitting $23.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,834,948 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,100,718. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.64. BCE has a fifty-two week low of $20.28 and a fifty-two week high of $36.17. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $21.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.67. The company has a market capitalization of $22.28 billion, a PE ratio of 91.88, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.61.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.92 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 19.22% and a net margin of 1.82%. The company's revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BCE will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a yield of 5.65%. BCE's dividend payout ratio is presently 488.46%.

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.