Zacks Research Issues Pessimistic Estimate for BCE Earnings

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Free Report) NYSE: BCE - Analysts at Zacks Research cut their Q1 2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for BCE in a research note issued on Tuesday, February 25th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the company will earn $0.64 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.68. The consensus estimate for BCE's current full-year earnings is $3.11 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for BCE's Q2 2025 earnings at $0.69 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $2.75 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $0.66 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $0.66 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $0.67 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $0.67 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $2.65 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $2.68 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on BCE. Scotiabank reduced 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underweight" rating and cut their price target for the stock from C$35.00 to C$29.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on BCE from C$33.00 to C$33.50 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities raised their price target on BCE from C$31.00 to C$33.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays downgraded BCE from an "equal weight" rating to an "underperform" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from C$41.00 to C$30.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Two 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of C$40.42.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE stock traded down C$0.36 during trading on Thursday, hitting C$33.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,577,396 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,854,049. The company has a market cap of C$30.27 billion, a PE ratio of 112.12, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73. The business has a fifty day moving average of C$33.58 and a 200-day moving average of C$39.80. BCE has a 52 week low of C$31.43 and a 52 week high of C$50.58.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a dividend of $0.9975 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.94%. BCE's payout ratio is 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.