Cibc World Mkts Downgrades BCE (NYSE:BCE) to Hold

Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of BCE (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. National Bankshares reissued a "sector perform" rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. National Bank Financial raised BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Scotiabank raised BCE from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of BCE in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $38.67.

BCE Price Performance

BCE traded down $0.16 on Thursday, reaching $22.70. The stock had a trading volume of 3,131,622 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,079,558. BCE has a fifty-two week low of $20.28 and a fifty-two week high of $36.17. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $21.92 and a 200-day moving average of $22.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40. The company has a market capitalization of $21.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.61.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.04. BCE had a return on equity of 19.22% and a net margin of 1.82%. The business had revenue of $4.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a dividend yield of 5.65%. BCE's payout ratio is 488.46%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BCE

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position 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 valued at $124,000 after purchasing an additional 5,402 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 31,607 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BCE during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,233,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BCE by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,878,904 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $368,073,000 after acquiring an additional 411,911 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 825,098 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company's stock.

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.