BCE (TSE:BCE) Cut to “Hold” at National Bank Financial

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) was downgraded by National Bank Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Zacks.com reports. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for BCE’s FY2024 earnings at $2.98 EPS.

BCE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Desjardins raised their target price on BCE from C$48.00 to C$51.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of BCE from C$47.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of BCE from C$48.00 to C$51.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. National Bankshares downgraded shares of BCE from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from C$52.00 to C$48.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of BCE from C$46.00 to C$47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$50.83.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE opened at C$47.00 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of C$42.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s fifty day moving average is C$47.22 and its 200 day moving average is C$46.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43. BCE has a 12-month low of C$42.58 and a 12-month high of C$56.18.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.80 by C($0.02). BCE had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 8.75%. The company had revenue of C$6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$6.07 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BCE will post 3.0598958 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.