BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$52.15.

A number of research firms have recently commented on BCE. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on BCE from C$57.00 to C$54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. CIBC raised shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Cormark lowered their target price on shares of BCE from C$58.00 to C$53.00 in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Desjardins dropped their target price on shares of BCE from C$58.00 to C$55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of BCE from C$54.00 to C$47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

BCE Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of TSE:BCE opened at C$45.96 on Friday. The company has a market cap of C$41.93 billion, a PE ratio of 23.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44. The company’s 50 day moving average is C$46.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$50.83. BCE has a 52 week low of C$43.96 and a 52 week high of C$64.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 184.91.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported C$0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of C$0.73 by C$0.03. BCE had a return on equity of 9.36% and a net margin of 7.88%. The firm had revenue of C$6.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$6.48 billion. Equities analysts predict that BCE will post 3.0296638 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.998 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 13th. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.69%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 206.74%.

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.