BCE (NYSE:BCE) Price Target Raised to $51.00 at BMO Capital Markets

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) had its price target hoisted by BMO Capital Markets from $48.00 to $51.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Cibc World Mkts upgraded BCE from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Six research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, BCE has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $46.67.

BCE Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $35.04 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.62. BCE has a 1 year low of $31.13 and a 1 year high of $41.77. The firm has a market cap of $31.97 billion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.58.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that BCE will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.729 dividend. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is 204.86%.

Institutional Trading of BCE

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in BCE by 23.8% during the second quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,520,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $178,677,000 after acquiring an additional 1,061,488 shares in the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BCE in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,183,000. &PARTNERS bought a new stake in BCE in the 2nd quarter valued at about $298,000. UBS Group AG raised its stake in BCE by 32.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 862,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,983,000 after buying an additional 212,047 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its holdings in BCE by 18.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $551,505,000 after acquiring an additional 2,217,262 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.