BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Price Down 3% Following Analyst Downgrade

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE)’s share price dropped 3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on the stock from C$33.50 to C$31.50. Canaccord Genuity Group currently has a hold rating on the stock. BCE traded as low as C$30.39 and last traded at C$30.53. Approximately 2,055,749 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 47% from the average daily volume of 3,911,561 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$31.49.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on BCE. Barclays lowered shares of BCE from an “equal weight” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from C$41.00 to C$30.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on BCE from C$45.00 to C$41.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on BCE from C$29.00 to C$28.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. National Bankshares lifted their price objective on BCE from C$35.00 to C$36.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, TD Securities upped their target price 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BCE has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$39.18.

BCE Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73. The company has a market cap of C$27.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of C$33.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$37.28.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.9975 dividend. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. BCE’s payout ratio is 1,338.57%.

About BCE

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.