Analysts Set BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Price Target at C$40.88

Shares of BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have given a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$40.88.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BCE shares. National Bankshares reduced their target price 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 decreased their price objective on shares of BCE from C$41.00 to C$37.50 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Barclays lowered shares of BCE from an “equal weight” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from C$41.00 to C$30.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on BCE from C$45.00 to C$42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on 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.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of TSE:BCE opened at C$33.70 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of C$30.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.67, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. BCE has a one year low of C$31.43 and a one year high of C$53.51. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is C$34.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$41.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.65.

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 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 quarter last year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th were issued a $0.9975 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.84%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.