BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Passes Above 200 Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) shares passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$31.79 and traded as high as C$32.73. BCE shares last traded at C$32.43, with a volume of 1,805,878 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BCE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Scotiabank boosted their price target on BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Cibc World Mkts downgraded BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on BCE from C$51.00 to C$35.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Desjardins upped their price objective on BCE from C$40.00 to C$40.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, August 10th. Finally, CIBC increased their target price on BCE from C$35.00 to C$36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$34.88.

BCE Stock Down 0.9%

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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of C$33.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$31.79. The company has a market cap of C$29.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.65.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.