Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE – Get Rating) (TSE:BCE) earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the 13 analysts who cover the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five investment analysts gave the stock a hold rating and two gave the company a buy rating. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have hedged the stock over the past year is $67.18.

A number of stock analysts have published reports on the company. Desjardins raised its target price on BCE from C$68.00 to C$70.00 in a report released on Monday, May 9. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered its target price on BCE from CA$71.00 to CA$70.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report released Friday, May 6. Royal Bank of Canada raised its target price on BCE from C$69.00 to C$70.00 in a Friday, May 6 report. Bank of America upgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a Monday, March 14 report. Finally, StockNews.com began covering BCE in a report on Thursday, March 31. They set a “holding” rating for the company.

BCE opened at $55.11 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.65 and a leverage ratio of 1.35. BCE has a 12-month low of $48.12 and a 12-month high of $59.34. The company has a fifty-day simple moving average of $55.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $50.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.28, a P/E/G ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.46.

BCE (NYSE:BCE – Get Rating) (TSE:BCE) last released quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 5. The utility provider reported EPS of $0.70 for the quarter, beating consensus analyst estimates of $0.64 by $0.06. The company posted revenue of $5.85 billion in the quarter, versus $5.86 billion expected by analysts. BCE had a net margin of 12.85% and a return on equity of 15.75%. The company’s quarterly revenue increased 2.5% year over year. In the same quarter of the previous year, the company achieved EPS of $0.62. On average, equity research analysts expect BCE to post earnings per share of 2.65 for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 15. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 15 will receive a dividend of $0.715. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 14. This represents an annualized dividend of $2.86 and a yield of 5.19%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 110.81%.

A number of large investors have recently changed their stock holdings. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in BCE by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 36,365 shares of the utility provider valued at $2,017,000 after purchasing an additional 994 shares in the last quarter. LM Kohn & Company acquired a new stake in BCE in Q1 valued at approximately $653,000. Advisory Services Network LLC increased its stake in BCE by 88.0% in the 1st quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 12,688 shares of the utility provider valued at $704,000 after purchasing an additional 5,940 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in BCE by 42.4% in the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 8,606,761 shares of the utility provider valued at $477,875,000 after purchasing an additional 2,562,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA increased its stake in BCE by 1,148.3% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 61,165 shares of the utility provider valued at $3,392,000 after buying an additional 56,265 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 44.77% of the company’s shares.

About BCE (Get an assessment)

BCE Inc operates as a telecommunications and media company in Canada. The Company offers wireless, wireline, Internet and television (TV) services to residential, business and wholesale customers. It operates through three segments: Bell Wireless, Bell Wireline and Bell Media. The Bell Wireless segment provides wireless voice and data communication products and services, as well as consumer electronics products.

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