Barclays Trims BCE (NYSE:BCE) Target Price to $34.00

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) had its price target cut by Barclays from $35.00 to $34.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on BCE. National Bank Financial lowered BCE from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of BCE from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $46.33.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $33.03 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $34.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.73. The company has a market capitalization of $30.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.77, a PEG ratio of 5.55 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 has a twelve month low of $31.13 and a twelve month high of $41.77.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $4.39 billion during 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that BCE will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.729 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.83%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 186.16%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BCE

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Ossiam lifted its holdings in BCE by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Ossiam now owns 28,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,136,000 after purchasing an additional 4,868 shares during the last quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BCE in the fourth quarter worth $492,000. FIL Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of BCE by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $551,505,000 after buying an additional 2,217,262 shares during the period. Sunpointe LLC bought a new stake in shares of BCE during the 4th quarter worth $265,000. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in BCE in the 4th quarter valued at $150,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

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.