Brokerages Set BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Target Price at C$50.36

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$50.36.

BCE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Securities cut their target price on BCE from C$51.00 to C$50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. National Bankshares downgraded BCE from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from C$52.00 to C$48.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on BCE from C$48.00 to C$51.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on BCE from C$53.00 to C$52.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on BCE from C$50.00 to C$52.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th.

BCE Stock Down 0.4 %

TSE BCE opened at C$45.20 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of C$46.86 and a 200 day moving average price of C$46.05. BCE has a one year low of C$42.58 and a one year high of C$56.18. 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 company has a market cap of C$41.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.02, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.80 by C($0.02). BCE had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 8.75%. The company had revenue of C$6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$6.07 billion. Research analysts anticipate that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a $0.998 dividend. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.83%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 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.