BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target Lowered to C$53.00 at Cormark

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its target price reduced by Cormark from C$58.00 to C$53.00 in a research note published on Thursday, BayStreet.CA reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. National Bankshares lowered their price target on BCE from C$55.00 to C$53.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 25th. Barclays decreased their target price on BCE from C$52.00 to C$48.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. TD Securities decreased their target price on BCE from C$55.00 to C$51.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. BMO Capital Markets cut BCE from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and decreased their target price for the stock from C$54.00 to C$46.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on BCE from C$54.00 to C$47.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of C$52.48.

BCE Stock Down 0.2 %

BCE opened at C$44.34 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.98, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of C$40.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44. The business has a 50-day moving average of C$47.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$51.29. BCE has a 12 month low of C$43.96 and a 12 month high of C$65.66.

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 company had revenue of C$6.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$6.48 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 9.17%. On average, research analysts expect that BCE will post 3.0377747 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.998 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.00%. BCE’s payout ratio is 175.00%.

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.