BCE’s (BCE) Sector Perform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their sector perform rating on shares of BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $39.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on BCE. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Edward Jones downgraded shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

BCE Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BCE opened at $23.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $23.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.60. BCE has a one year low of $21.87 and a one year high of $37.33. The company has a market cap of $21.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 194.96, a PEG ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.57.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a net margin of 0.99% and a return on equity of 17.89%. Analysts anticipate that BCE will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.6965 dividend. This represents a $2.79 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2,350.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BCE

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake 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 during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in BCE by 25.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,657,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $127,282,000 after buying an additional 738,656 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,166,800 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in BCE by 130.1% during the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 293,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,200,000 after buying an additional 165,881 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in BCE by 78.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 120,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,192,000 after buying an additional 52,966 shares during the period. 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.