BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Expected to Earn Q1 2024 Earnings of $0.51 Per Share

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) – Cormark issued their Q1 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of BCE in a report issued on Thursday, April 18th. Cormark analyst D. Mcfadgen anticipates that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $0.51 for the quarter. The consensus estimate for BCE’s current full-year earnings is $2.25 per share.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. BCE had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 8.82%. The company had revenue of $4.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.82 billion.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target (down from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays lowered their price objective on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Argus cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. TD Securities cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.00.

BCE Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:BCE opened at $32.59 on Friday. BCE has a 12-month low of $31.82 and a 12-month high of $48.38. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.82. The company has a market capitalization of $29.73 billion, a PE ratio of 19.28, a P/E/G ratio of 4.31 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of BCE by 1.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 221,174 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in shares of BCE by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 15,198,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $580,173,000 after acquiring an additional 661,255 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of BCE by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,644,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $576,710,000 after acquiring an additional 311,902 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its position in shares of BCE by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 14,007,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $551,505,000 after acquiring an additional 2,217,262 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in shares of BCE by 53.5% during the 1st quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 13,375,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $742,107,000 after acquiring an additional 4,661,300 shares during the period. 41.46% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BCE Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.742 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $2.97 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.11%. This is a boost from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 174.56%.

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.