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

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) had its target price increased by BMO Capital Markets from $48.00 to $51.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, 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 report on Friday, August 2nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BCE currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $46.67.

BCE Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of BCE stock opened at $35.04 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $34.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.81. BCE has a twelve month low of $31.13 and a twelve month high of $41.77. The company has a market capitalization of $31.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.33, a PEG ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. Research analysts forecast that BCE will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of BCE

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 6,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,090 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of BCE during the 4th quarter worth about $97,874,000. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 212,047 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 24,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $948,000 after purchasing an additional 981 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 40,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,586,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.