BCE, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of C$0.44 (NYSE:BCE)

BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be given a dividend of 0.4375 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, October 15th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th.

BCE has decreased its dividend by an average of 0.2%per year over the last three years. BCE has a payout ratio of 66.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect BCE to earn $1.90 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.26 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 66.3%.

BCE Trading Up 3.2%

BCE stock opened at $22.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.22 billion, a PE ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.74. BCE has a one year low of $20.87 and a one year high of $26.52. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $22.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.15.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. BCE had a net margin of 25.66% and a return on equity of 13.87%. BCE has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.798-1.919 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that BCE will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BCE. Barclays dropped their price objective on BCE from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Friday, May 29th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of BCE in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, TD Securities raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.00.

About BCE

BCE Inc (NYSE: BCE) is a Canadian communications, media and entertainment company that operates through its primary subsidiaries, including Bell Canada and Bell Media. As a large integrated telecommunications provider, BCE delivers a broad range of connectivity services and content to residential, business and wholesale customers across Canada. The company combines network infrastructure with media assets to offer bundled communications and entertainment solutions.

On the services side, BCE provides fixed-line and wireless voice services, mobile data, high-speed internet, fibre and broadband access, and television services through platforms such as Bell Fibe and Bell TV.