BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $45.00.

Several analysts have recently commented on BCE shares. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of BCE in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “underweight” rating for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America downgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Edward Jones lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Institutional Trading of BCE

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BCE. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in BCE by 4.8% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 18,873,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,421,000 after buying an additional 864,472 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of BCE by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,282,000 after acquiring an additional 738,656 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 48.7% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,563,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $123,877,000 after purchasing an additional 1,166,800 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position in shares of BCE by 130.1% in the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 293,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,200,000 after purchasing an additional 165,881 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in BCE by 78.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 120,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after purchasing an additional 52,966 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $23.56 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The company has a market capitalization of $21.49 billion, a PE ratio of 336.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.86. BCE has a twelve month low of $21.87 and a twelve month high of $39.73.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a return on equity of 17.58% and a net margin of 0.76%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BCE will post 2.1 EPS for the current year.

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.