BCE (TSE:BCE) Downgraded by TD Securities to “Hold”

TD Securities downgraded shares of BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Friday, BayStreet.CA reports. TD Securities currently has C$58.00 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of C$61.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on BCE. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of BCE from C$67.00 to C$60.00 in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Desjardins reduced their target price on shares of BCE from C$62.00 to C$60.00 in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on BCE from C$63.00 to C$61.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 21st. CIBC cut their price objective on shares of BCE from C$64.00 to C$62.00 in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of BCE from C$64.00 to C$63.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BCE has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of C$62.29.

BCE Price Performance

TSE:BCE opened at C$56.40 on Friday. BCE has a 1-year low of C$54.62 and a 1-year high of C$65.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 160.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of C$57.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$60.39. The stock has a market capitalization of C$51.45 billion, a PE ratio of 22.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.50.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The company reported C$0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.79. The company had revenue of C$6.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$6.04 billion. BCE had a net margin of 10.06% and a return on equity of 11.16%. On average, research analysts expect that BCE will post 3.2405207 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.967 per share. This represents a $3.87 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 153.57%.

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 three segments: Bell Wireless, Bell Wireline, and Bell Media. The Bell Wireless segment offers integrated digital wireless voice and data communication products and services, as well as consumer electronics products.