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

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) had its price objective lowered by analysts at Barclays from $35.00 to $34.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 1.28% from the stock’s previous close.

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

BCE Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of BCE traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $33.57. The company had a trading volume of 164,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,214,802. BCE has a 1-year low of $31.13 and a 1-year high of $41.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.75. The stock has a market cap of $30.63 billion, a PE ratio of 23.31, a P/E/G ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.58.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 previous year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that BCE will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of BCE

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BCE. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 2.6% in the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $466,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its position in BCE by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 10,690 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after buying an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of BCE by 4.7% during the second quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 11,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network increased its position in shares of BCE by 9.2% during the first quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network now owns 6,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 60.0% in the second quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.