BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Receives $38.67 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Key Points

• BCE, Inc. has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from 14 brokerages, with ratings of 4 sells, 7 holds, 2 buys, and 1 strong buy.
• The company's recent quarterly earnings report showed a missed EPS estimate of $0.46, compared to a consensus estimate of $0.52, along with a revenue of $4.47 billion against an expected $5.91 billion.
• BCE recently announced a dividend yield of 565.0%, though its payout ratio is notably high at 434.48%, raising concerns about its sustainability.

Shares of BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE have been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the fifteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.6667.

BCE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of BCE in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Scotiabank raised BCE from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Desjardins raised BCE from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Cibc World Mkts lowered BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, CIBC reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Friday, August 22nd.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE traded up $0.14 on Tuesday, reaching $24.96. The stock had a trading volume of 2,434,770 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,450,236. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.28 billion, a PE ratio of 86.09, a PEG ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $23.95 and a 200 day moving average of $22.97. BCE has a twelve month low of $20.28 and a twelve month high of $36.17.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.06). BCE had a net margin of 1.96% and a return on equity of 18.89%. The company had revenue of $4.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.91 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. BCE's quarterly revenue was up 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. BCE has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that BCE will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. BCE's dividend payout ratio is currently 437.93%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. NBC Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 108,040.0% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 5,407 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $124,000 after purchasing an additional 5,402 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of BCE during the 4th quarter worth $1,075,000. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of BCE during the 1st quarter worth $248,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 249,747 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,787,000 after purchasing an additional 11,746 shares during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 26.1% during the 1st quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 507,230 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $11,644,000 after purchasing an additional 104,967 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.46% of the company's stock.

BCE Company Profile

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.