BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$40.88.

BCE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on BCE from C$45.00 to C$41.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on BCE from C$37.50 to C$33.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on BCE from C$41.00 to C$35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. National Bankshares lowered their price objective on BCE from C$37.00 to C$35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Barclays cut BCE from an “equal weight” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from C$41.00 to C$30.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at C$34.99 on Tuesday. 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$31.92 billion, a PE ratio of 16.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. BCE has a 1-year low of C$31.43 and a 1-year high of C$53.51. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of C$34.76.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported C$0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.77 by C($0.02). BCE had a net margin of 8.75% and a return on equity of 10.63%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BCE will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a dividend of $0.9975 per share. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.