BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target Lowered to C$53.25 at Scotiabank

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price objective reduced by Scotiabank from C$55.50 to C$53.25 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, BayStreet.CA reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector perform rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on BCE. Barclays dropped their target price on BCE from C$52.00 to C$48.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of BCE from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and cut their target price for the stock from C$54.00 to C$46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of BCE from C$54.00 to C$47.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Desjardins cut their price objective on BCE from C$58.00 to C$55.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on BCE from C$57.00 to C$54.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of C$53.63.

BCE Trading Down 0.3 %

TSE BCE opened at C$44.42 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is C$47.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$51.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.98, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.65. BCE has a twelve month low of C$43.96 and a twelve month high of C$65.66. The stock has a market cap of C$40.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.48, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported C$0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.73 by C$0.03. The business had revenue of C$6.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$6.48 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 9.17%. Equities analysts anticipate that BCE will post 3.0377747 EPS for the current year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a $0.998 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.99%. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 175.00%.

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.