Brokers Offer Predictions for BCE Inc.’s Q3 2024 Earnings (NYSE:BCE)

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) – Equities researchers at National Bank Financial issued their Q3 2024 earnings per share estimates for BCE in a note issued to investors on Monday, September 30th. National Bank Financial analyst A. Shine expects that the utilities provider will earn $0.56 per share for the quarter. National Bank Financial has a “Hold” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for BCE’s current full-year earnings is $2.20 per share. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for BCE’s FY2025 earnings at $2.23 EPS.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on BCE. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of BCE from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BCE has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.67.

BCE Stock Down 0.4 %

BCE stock opened at $33.71 on Thursday. BCE has a fifty-two week low of $31.13 and a fifty-two week high of $41.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $34.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.41, a PEG ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 0.58.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BCE. Verity & Verity LLC grew its stake in shares of BCE by 2.8% in the second quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 405,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,110,000 after purchasing an additional 11,006 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BCE during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,909,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in BCE by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,768,597 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $89,622,000 after purchasing an additional 185,943 shares during the period. SPC Financial Inc. raised its holdings in BCE by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 9,475 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 210,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,818,000 after purchasing an additional 9,954 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $0.729 dividend. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 204.86%.

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.