Scotiabank Has Negative Outlook for BCE FY2025 Earnings

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Free Report) NYSE: BCE - Equities researchers at Scotiabank cut their FY2025 earnings estimates for BCE in a report issued on Wednesday, March 19th. Scotiabank analyst M. Yaghi now forecasts that the company will earn $2.80 per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of $2.87. Scotiabank currently has a "Sector Perform" rating and a $40.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for BCE's current full-year earnings is $3.11 per share.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of 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. Barclays downgraded BCE from an "equal weight" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from C$41.00 to C$30.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. National Bankshares lifted their target price on BCE from C$35.00 to C$36.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on BCE from C$33.00 to C$33.50 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their target price for the company from C$35.00 to C$29.00 in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BCE currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of C$40.50.

Remove Ads

BCE Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of BCE stock traded up C$0.79 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching C$33.13. 3,335,536 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,876,541. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is C$33.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$38.17. BCE has a 1-year low of C$31.43 and a 1-year high of C$49.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73. The company has a market cap of C$30.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 111.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.9975 dividend. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. BCE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 1,338.57%.

About BCE

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.