National Bank Financial Expects Increased Earnings for BCE

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Free Report) NYSE: BCE - Investment analysts at National Bank Financial increased their FY2025 EPS estimates for shares of BCE in a research report issued on Wednesday, March 26th. National Bank Financial analyst A. Shine now anticipates that the company will earn $2.78 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of $2.70. The consensus estimate for BCE's current full-year earnings is $3.11 per share.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of BCE from C$33.00 to C$33.50 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities upped their target price on BCE from C$31.00 to C$33.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on BCE from C$45.00 to C$41.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on BCE from C$42.00 to C$40.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of BCE from an "equal weight" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their target price for the company from C$41.00 to C$30.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of C$40.42.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock traded up C$0.46 during midday trading on Monday, reaching C$32.38. 7,470,496 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,920,633. BCE has a 52 week low of C$30.71 and a 52 week high of C$49.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of C$29.33 billion, a PE ratio of 108.63, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. The company's fifty day moving average is C$33.71 and its 200-day moving average is C$37.40.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.9975 dividend. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. BCE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 1,338.57%.

BCE Company Profile

BCE is both a wireless and internet service provider, offering wireless, broadband, television, and landline phone services in Canada. It is one of the big three national wireless carriers, with its roughly 10 million customers constituting about 30% of the market. It is also the ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrierthe legacy telephone provider) throughout much of the eastern half of Canada, including in the most populous Canadian provincesOntario and Quebec.