BCE (BCE) Scheduled to Post Earnings on Thursday

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) will post its quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, May 2nd. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $0.60 per share for the quarter. BCE has set its FY24 guidance at $2.99-3.15 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance at 2.190-2.310 EPS.Parties that are interested in registering for the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.82 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.13% and a net margin of 8.82%. On average, analysts expect BCE to post $2 EPS for the current fiscal year and $2 EPS for the next fiscal year.

BCE Stock Performance

NYSE:BCE opened at $32.75 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $29.88 billion, a PE ratio of 19.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.65. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $34.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.62. BCE has a fifty-two week low of $31.82 and a fifty-two week high of $48.38.

BCE Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.742 per share. This represents a $2.97 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.06%. This is an increase from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is 174.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on BCE shares. Barclays cut their target price on BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. CIBC raised BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target (down previously from $54.00) on shares of BCE in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of BCE from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, TD Securities cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

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.