BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Price Down 3.2% Following Analyst Downgrade

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE)’s stock price traded down 3.2% on Tuesday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from C$39.00 to C$37.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. BCE traded as low as C$30.39 and last traded at C$30.48. 2,712,075 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 31% from the average session volume of 3,929,405 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$31.49.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. National Bankshares raised their price objective on BCE from C$35.00 to C$36.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. TD Securities lifted their price target on BCE from C$31.00 to C$33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on BCE from C$29.00 to C$28.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on shares of BCE from C$33.50 to C$31.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$38.82.

BCE Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73. The firm has a market capitalization of C$26.80 billion, a PE ratio of 99.27, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is C$33.27 and its 200 day moving average price is C$36.78.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.9975 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.48%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 1,338.57%.

About BCE

BCE is both a wireless and internet service provider, offering wireless, broadband, television, and landline phone services in Canada. It is one of the big three national wireless carriers, with its roughly 10 million customers constituting about 30% of the market. It is also the ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrierthe legacy telephone provider) throughout much of the eastern half of Canada, including in the most populous Canadian provincesOntario and Quebec.