BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target Cut to C$53.00

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its target price cut by National Bankshares from C$55.00 to C$53.00 in a report released on Monday, BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on BCE. CIBC lowered their price objective on BCE from C$56.00 to C$54.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on BCE from C$58.00 to C$54.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of BCE from C$57.25 to C$55.50 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, Desjardins cut their target price on BCE from C$58.00 to C$55.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of C$55.65.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE opened at C$46.50 on Monday. BCE has a 52 week low of C$45.40 and a 52 week high of C$65.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.98. The firm has a market cap of C$42.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.39, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a 50 day moving average of C$50.85 and a 200-day moving average of C$52.33.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported C$0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.73 by C$0.03. The business had revenue of C$6.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$6.48 billion. BCE had a net margin of 9.17% and a return on equity of 10.81%. As a group, analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.0694723 EPS for the current year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a $0.998 dividend. This is a positive change from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.58%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 175.00%.

BCE Company Profile

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 three segments: Bell Wireless, Bell Wireline, and Bell Media. The Bell Wireless segment offers integrated digital wireless voice and data communication products and services, as well as consumer electronics products.