BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target Cut to C$50.00 by Analysts at National Bankshares

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price objective trimmed by National Bankshares from C$52.00 to C$50.00 in a report published on Wednesday, BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on BCE. Barclays reduced their target price on BCE from C$52.00 to C$48.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on BCE from C$46.00 to C$47.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on 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. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on BCE from C$57.00 to C$54.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, CIBC raised BCE from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of C$52.00.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE opened at C$44.61 on Wednesday. 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 has a 50 day moving average price of C$45.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$48.95. The firm has a market capitalization of C$40.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44. BCE has a 52 week low of C$43.96 and a 52 week high of C$60.60.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported C$0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of C$0.72. The company had revenue of C$6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$6.09 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 9.36% and a net margin of 7.88%. Equities analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.0157895 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be given a $0.998 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.95%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.