BCE (TSE:BCE) Downgraded to Underperform Rating by Barclays

Barclays downgraded shares of BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) from an equal weight rating to an underperform rating in a research note released on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. Barclays currently has C$30.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of C$41.00.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on BCE from C$37.50 to C$33.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on BCE from C$45.00 to C$42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on BCE from C$41.00 to C$37.50 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on BCE from C$41.00 to C$35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, National Bankshares lowered their price target on BCE from C$37.00 to C$35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$40.88.

BCE Stock Performance

BCE stock opened at C$34.61 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a fifty day moving average of C$34.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$41.69. The company has a market capitalization of C$31.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.10, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. BCE has a fifty-two week low of C$31.43 and a fifty-two week high of C$54.89.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported C$0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.77 by C($0.02). BCE had a net margin of 8.75% and a return on equity of 10.63%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were paid a dividend of $0.9975 per share. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 185.58%.

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.