BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target Raised to C$41.50 at Scotiabank

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price target raised by Scotiabank from C$39.50 to C$41.50 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on BCE from C$28.00 to C$29.00 in a report on Monday, May 12th. National Bankshares set a C$35.00 target price on BCE and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Cibc World Mkts cut BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on BCE from C$51.00 to C$35.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Desjardins boosted their price target on BCE from C$40.00 to C$40.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$34.88.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE opened at C$33.67 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of C$31.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.20, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.65. BCE has a fifty-two week low of C$28.73 and a fifty-two week high of C$49.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The business’s 50-day moving average is C$33.35 and its 200-day moving average is C$31.99.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.2%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 745.65%.

BCE Company Profile

BCE is both a wireless and internet service provider, offering wireless, broadband, television, and landline phone services in Canada. It is one of the big three national wireless carriers, with its roughly 10 million customers constituting about 30% of the market. It is also the ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrierthe legacy telephone provider) throughout much of the eastern half of Canada, including in the most populous Canadian provincesOntario and Quebec.