BCE Inc. Forecasted to Post FY2025 Earnings of $2.26 Per Share (NYSE:BCE)

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) – National Bank Financial lowered their FY2025 earnings estimates for shares of BCE in a note issued to investors on Thursday, May 2nd. National Bank Financial analyst A. Shine now anticipates that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $2.26 for the year, down from their previous estimate of $2.30. The consensus estimate for BCE’s current full-year earnings is $2.25 per share.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.82 billion.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on BCE. Argus downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective (down from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays cut their target price on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, CIBC upgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

BCE Price Performance

NYSE:BCE opened at $33.55 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.61 billion, a PE ratio of 23.30, a P/E/G ratio of 4.49 and a beta of 0.56. BCE has a 1-year low of $31.82 and a 1-year high of $48.24. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.738 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $2.95 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.80%. BCE’s payout ratio is 204.86%.

Institutional Trading of BCE

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BCE. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in BCE by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 15,933,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $643,159,000 after purchasing an additional 221,174 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in shares of BCE by 4.5% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 15,198,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $580,173,000 after buying an additional 661,255 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of BCE by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,644,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $576,710,000 after acquiring an additional 311,902 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its position in shares of BCE by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $551,505,000 after acquiring an additional 2,217,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of BCE by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 11,151,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $441,217,000 after acquiring an additional 435,681 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

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.