BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Rating Lowered by Barclays

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) was downgraded by equities researchers at Barclays from an “equal weight” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have a C$30.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of C$41.00. Barclays‘s target price indicates a potential downside of 13.32% from the company’s current price.

BCE has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on BCE from C$41.00 to C$35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. National Bankshares reduced their price objective on BCE from C$37.00 to C$35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on shares of BCE from C$41.00 to C$37.50 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of BCE from C$45.00 to C$41.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on shares of BCE from C$37.50 to C$33.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BCE currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$40.88.

BCE Stock Performance

TSE:BCE opened at C$34.61 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of C$31.57 billion, a PE ratio of 16.10, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. BCE has a fifty-two week low of C$31.43 and a fifty-two week high of C$54.89. The company has a fifty day moving average of C$34.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$41.63.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported C$0.75 earnings per share 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 quarter last year, the company posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.