Scotiabank Estimates BCE's FY2026 Earnings (NYSE:BCE)

BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Free Report) TSE: BCE - Analysts at Scotiabank raised their FY2026 earnings per share estimates for BCE in a report released on Tuesday, July 15th. Scotiabank analyst M. Yaghi now expects that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $2.01 for the year, up from their previous estimate of $1.91. Scotiabank has a "Sector Outperform" rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for BCE's current full-year earnings is $1.94 per share.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.04. BCE had a return on equity of 19.22% and a net margin of 1.82%. The company had revenue of $4.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on BCE. National Bank Financial upgraded BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of BCE in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts lowered BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $38.67.

BCE Price Performance

NYSE:BCE traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $23.70. The stock had a trading volume of 2,089,308 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,123,796. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.10 billion, a PE ratio of 91.15, a PEG ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.75. BCE has a 52 week low of $20.28 and a 52 week high of $36.17.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th were paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a yield of 5.65%. BCE's payout ratio is 488.46%.

Institutional Trading of BCE

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BCE. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in BCE in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,233,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in BCE by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,288 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $215,000 after acquiring an additional 2,013 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in BCE by 85.5% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 36,444 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $845,000 after acquiring an additional 16,794 shares during the period. Blueshift Asset Management LLC increased its position in BCE by 153.0% during the 4th quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC now owns 15,168 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 9,173 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in BCE during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,565,000. 41.46% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.