Equities Analysts Issue Forecasts for BCE Inc.’s Q1 2024 Earnings (NYSE:BCE)

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) – Stock analysts at Cormark issued their Q1 2024 EPS estimates for shares of BCE in a report issued on Thursday, April 18th. Cormark analyst D. Mcfadgen expects that the utilities provider will post earnings of $0.51 per share for the quarter. The consensus estimate for BCE’s current full-year earnings is $2.25 per share.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $46.00 price target (down from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. TD Securities downgraded shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.00.

BCE Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:BCE opened at $32.21 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.13 and a 200 day moving average of $37.84. BCE has a 52 week low of $31.82 and a 52 week high of $48.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 0.56.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a net margin of 8.82% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.82 billion.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.742 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.21%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 174.56%.

Institutional Trading of BCE

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Addenda Capital Inc. boosted its stake in BCE by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 701,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $23,821,000 after purchasing an additional 48,002 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in BCE by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 128,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,360,000 after purchasing an additional 19,500 shares in the last quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in BCE by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC now owns 151,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,155,000 after purchasing an additional 16,700 shares in the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in BCE by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 10,690 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevated Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in BCE by 11.3% in the 1st quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,400,000 after purchasing an additional 4,171 shares in the last quarter. 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.