BCE (NYSE:BCE) Upgraded at CIBC

CIBC upgraded shares of BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) from a neutral rating to a sector outperform rating in a report released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on BCE. Argus downgraded BCE from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a market perform rating and issued a $46.00 price objective (down from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. TD Securities downgraded BCE from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $49.00.

BCE Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $32.89 on Tuesday. BCE has a one year low of $31.82 and a one year high of $48.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.00 billion, a PE ratio of 19.46, a PEG ratio of 4.45 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $34.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.70.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.82 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 8.82%. As a group, analysts predict that BCE will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.742 dividend. This is an increase from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 174.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LGT Capital Partners LTD. grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. LGT Capital Partners LTD. now owns 581,130 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,287,000 after purchasing an additional 11,880 shares in the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 33,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,264,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,938 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 399,592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,945,000 after purchasing an additional 31,563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bfsg LLC grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 48,593 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,856,000 after purchasing an additional 2,841 shares in the last quarter. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.