What is Scotiabank’s Forecast for BCE FY2025 Earnings?

BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) – Investment analysts at Scotiabank cut their FY2025 EPS estimates for BCE in a report issued on Friday, November 28th. Scotiabank analyst M. Yaghi now forecasts that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $1.90 for the year, down from their prior estimate of $1.95. The consensus estimate for BCE’s current full-year earnings is $1.94 per share. Scotiabank also issued estimates for BCE’s FY2026 earnings at $2.08 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Barclays cut their price target on BCE from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 10th. National Bankshares reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Friday, August 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of BCE from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $35.00 to $37.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. TD Securities raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Desjardins upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.00.

BCE Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE BCE opened at $23.36 on Monday. BCE has a twelve month low of $20.28 and a twelve month high of $27.44. The firm has a market cap of $21.78 billion, a PE ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 0.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.05. BCE had a return on equity of 17.35% and a net margin of 25.62%.The firm had revenue of $4.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. BCE’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. BCE has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BCE

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its holdings in BCE by 27.6% during the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,627,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,755,000 after buying an additional 352,151 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in BCE in the second quarter valued at $3,181,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of BCE in the second quarter worth about $4,644,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of BCE by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 567,694 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,034,000 after acquiring an additional 65,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BCE during the 1st quarter worth about $268,000. 41.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 26.40%.

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.