FY2024 Earnings Estimate for BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Issued By National Bank Financial

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) – National Bank Financial cut their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of BCE in a report issued on Thursday, August 1st. National Bank Financial analyst A. Shine now forecasts that the utilities provider will post earnings of $2.17 per share for the year, down from their prior estimate of $2.22. The consensus estimate for BCE’s current full-year earnings is $2.22 per share. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for BCE’s FY2025 earnings at $2.15 EPS.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on BCE. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. CIBC raised BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.33.

BCE Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE:BCE opened at $35.00 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.31, a P/E/G ratio of 5.62 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The business’s 50-day moving average is $33.08 and its 200-day moving average is $34.65. BCE has a 1 year low of $31.13 and a 1 year high of $42.96.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.19. BCE had a return on equity of 16.88% and a net margin of 8.39%. The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 EPS.

Institutional Trading of BCE

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 171.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,284,802 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $168,736,000 after acquiring an additional 2,708,625 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of BCE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $97,874,000. FIL Ltd grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $551,505,000 after acquiring an additional 2,217,262 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of BCE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $85,840,000. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 23.8% in the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,520,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $178,677,000 after acquiring an additional 1,061,488 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.729 per share. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 202.08%.

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.