Analysts Set BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Target Price at $46.33

Shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $46.33.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on BCE shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of BCE from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, National Bank Financial lowered shares of BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th.

Institutional Trading of BCE

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,725,614 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $500,376,000 after purchasing an additional 80,879 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 8,450,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $273,553,000 after purchasing an additional 905,857 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,520,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $178,677,000 after purchasing an additional 1,061,488 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,068,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $163,932,000 after purchasing an additional 21,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,564,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $115,379,000 after purchasing an additional 186,659 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BCE Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE BCE opened at $32.11 on Wednesday. BCE has a one year low of $31.13 and a one year high of $41.77. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.29 billion, a PE ratio of 20.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.39 and a beta of 0.58.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 business posted $0.59 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that BCE will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.

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.