CIBC Upgrades BCE (TSE:BCE) to “Outperform”

CIBC upgraded shares of BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning, BayStreet.CA reports.

BCE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on BCE from C$54.00 to C$47.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of BCE from C$57.00 to C$54.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Securities cut their price objective on shares of BCE from C$55.00 to C$51.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of BCE from C$52.00 to C$48.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded BCE from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and cut their price target for the stock from C$54.00 to C$46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BCE has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of C$52.48.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at C$45.46 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.98, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43. BCE has a one year low of C$43.96 and a one year high of C$65.66. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is C$47.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$51.19. The stock has a market capitalization of C$41.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44.

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

BCE Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were issued a $0.998 dividend. This is an increase from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.78%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 175.00%.

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 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.