BCE (TSE:BCE) Cut to Sector Perform Market Weight at National Bank Financial

National Bank Financial cut shares of BCE (TSE:BCE – Get Rating) (NYSE:BCE) from an outperform market weight rating to a sector perform market weight rating in a research note released on Wednesday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. National Bankshares decreased their price target on BCE from C$68.00 to C$66.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 21st. Barclays reduced their target price on BCE from C$66.00 to C$64.00 in a research note on Monday, January 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on BCE from C$63.00 to C$64.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Friday, November 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on BCE from C$67.00 to C$63.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 20th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on BCE from C$65.50 to C$66.75 in a research note on Friday, November 4th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of C$65.31.

BCE Stock Up 0.7 %

TSE BCE opened at C$62.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of C$56.98 billion and a PE ratio of 20.22. BCE has a fifty-two week low of C$55.66 and a fifty-two week high of C$74.09. The business has a 50 day moving average price of C$61.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$62.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 136.88.

BCE (TSE:BCE – Get Rating) (NYSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 3rd. The company reported C$0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.85 by C$0.03. The company had revenue of C$6.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$5.99 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BCE will post 3.5499997 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 16th. Investors of record on Monday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.89%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 117.64%.

About BCE

(Get Rating)

BCE Inc, a telecommunications and media company, provides wireless, wireline, Internet, and television (TV) services to residential, business, and wholesale customers in Canada. The company operates through three segments: Bell Wireless, Bell Wireline, and Bell Media. The Bell Wireless segment offers wireless voice and data communication products and services, as well as consumer electronics products.