BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target Cut to C$52.00 by Analysts at National Bankshares

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price objective lowered by National Bankshares from C$53.00 to C$52.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of BCE from C$46.00 to C$47.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Wednesday. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of BCE from C$53.25 to C$53.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. CIBC upgraded shares of BCE from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of BCE from C$57.00 to C$54.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of BCE from C$54.00 to C$47.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of C$52.15.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE opened at C$45.18 on Wednesday. BCE has a fifty-two week low of C$43.96 and a fifty-two week high of C$60.60. The company has a market capitalization of C$41.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of C$45.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$49.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 184.91, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.61.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported C$0.72 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.72. The firm had revenue of C$6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$6.09 billion. BCE had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 9.36%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BCE will post 3.0157895 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.998 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.84%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 207.81%.

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.