BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE)’s share price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$0.00 and traded as high as C$33.65. BCE shares last traded at C$33.54, with a volume of 5,061,708 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. National Bankshares lowered their target price on BCE from C$37.00 to C$35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of BCE from C$46.00 to C$41.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on shares of BCE from C$41.00 to C$37.50 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. TD Securities dropped their price target on shares of BCE from C$37.00 to C$32.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on BCE from C$37.50 to C$33.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$41.88.

BCE Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of C$35.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of C$30.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.60, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported C$0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.77 by C($0.02). BCE had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 8.75%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.81 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were paid a $0.9975 dividend. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. BCE’s payout ratio is 185.58%.

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.