Brokerages Set BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) PT at $30.00

BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $29.25.

BCE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on BCE in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Friday, May 29th. Bank of America upgraded BCE from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $24.50 to $27.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Friday, August 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BCE

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in BCE by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,806,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,034,000 after purchasing an additional 65,650 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in BCE by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,848,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $91,794,000 after purchasing an additional 727,860 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,020,124 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $429,834,000 after purchasing an additional 700,797 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 501.6% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 75,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,898,000 after purchasing an additional 62,698 shares during the period. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of BCE during the fourth quarter worth $1,616,000. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE:BCE opened at $23.46 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.69. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.09. The stock has a market cap of $21.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.80 and a beta of 0.51. BCE has a 1-year low of $20.87 and a 1-year high of $26.52.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. BCE had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 25.49%.The company had revenue of $4.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.35 billion. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.798-1.919 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that BCE will post 1.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.97%.

BCE Company Profile

BCE Inc (NYSE: BCE) is a Canadian communications, media and entertainment company that operates through its primary subsidiaries, including Bell Canada and Bell Media. As a large integrated telecommunications provider, BCE delivers a broad range of connectivity services and content to residential, business and wholesale customers across Canada. The company combines network infrastructure with media assets to offer bundled communications and entertainment solutions.

On the services side, BCE provides fixed-line and wireless voice services, mobile data, high-speed internet, fibre and broadband access, and television services through platforms such as Bell Fibe and Bell TV.