Royal Bank of Canada Trims BCE (TSE:BCE) Target Price to C$51.00

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price target decreased by Royal Bank of Canada from C$54.00 to C$51.00 in a report published on Tuesday, BayStreet.CA reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on BCE. TD Securities reduced their target price on BCE from C$48.00 to C$47.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on BCE from C$54.00 to C$47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Scotiabank decreased 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 report on Friday, May 3rd. National Bankshares lowered their target price on BCE from C$52.00 to C$50.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of BCE from C$46.00 to C$47.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of C$51.31.

BCE Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of BCE stock opened at C$44.28 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of C$40.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 184.91, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.61. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is C$45.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$48.19. BCE has a 52-week low of C$42.58 and a 52-week high of C$59.25.

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

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.998 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.02%. BCE’s payout ratio 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.