BCE (NYSE:BCE) Given New $51.00 Price Target at BMO Capital Markets

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

BCE Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of BCE stock opened at $35.19 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $34.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $32.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.44, a PEG ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.58. BCE has a 1-year low of $31.13 and a 1-year high of $41.77.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. BCE had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 8.39%. The company had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that BCE will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $0.729 dividend. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.29%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. BCE’s payout ratio is 204.86%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,725,614 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $500,376,000 after buying an additional 80,879 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $551,505,000 after buying an additional 2,217,262 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 11,151,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $441,217,000 after buying an additional 435,681 shares in the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 9,085,576 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $357,678,000 after buying an additional 287,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 12.0% during the second quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 8,450,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $273,553,000 after buying an additional 905,857 shares in the last quarter. 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.