BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Receives C$40.42 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) have earned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the twelve analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is C$40.42.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BCE shares. National Bankshares dropped their price target on shares of BCE from C$37.00 to C$35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on BCE from C$41.00 to C$37.50 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on BCE from C$45.00 to C$41.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from C$35.00 to C$29.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of BCE from C$31.00 to C$33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th.

BCE Stock Down 0.4 %

BCE stock opened at C$34.02 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of C$30.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 114.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is C$33.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$39.56. BCE has a 1-year low of C$31.43 and a 1-year high of C$49.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.9975 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.73%. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 1,338.57%.

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.