BCE (TSE:BCE) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Barclays

Barclays downgraded shares of BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on BCE. TD Securities cut their price objective on shares of BCE from C$37.00 to C$32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on BCE from C$41.00 to C$35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. National Bankshares reduced their price target on BCE from C$37.00 to C$35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. National Bank Financial lowered BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on BCE from C$45.00 to C$42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$41.88.

BCE Stock Up 0.1 %

BCE stock opened at C$33.38 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is C$35.26 and its 200 day moving average price is C$42.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43. The firm has a market cap of C$30.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. BCE has a 52 week low of C$31.43 and a 52 week high of C$55.75.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported C$0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that BCE will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th were paid a dividend of $0.9975 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.95%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 185.58%.

BCE Company Profile

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.