BCE (BCE) to Release Earnings on Thursday

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) will be announcing its earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, May 2nd. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of C$0.80 per share for the quarter.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported C$0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.73 by C$0.03. The company had revenue of C$6.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$6.48 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 9.17%.

BCE Stock Performance

TSE:BCE opened at C$45.23 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of C$41.26 billion, a PE ratio of 19.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$46.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$50.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.65. BCE has a fifty-two week low of C$43.96 and a fifty-two week high of C$65.66.

BCE Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.998 per share. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.83%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 175.00%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on BCE shares. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of BCE from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from C$54.00 to C$46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. TD Securities cut their target price on BCE from C$55.00 to C$51.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on BCE from C$57.00 to C$55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on BCE from C$55.50 to C$53.25 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on BCE from C$57.00 to C$54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$52.48.

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.