Analysts Set BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Target Price at C$50.83

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$51.00.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. National Bank Financial downgraded BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. TD Securities reduced their target price on BCE from C$51.00 to C$50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of BCE from C$51.00 to C$53.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of BCE from C$46.00 to C$47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Desjardins lifted their price objective on shares of BCE from C$48.00 to C$51.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd.

BCE Price Performance

TSE:BCE opened at C$45.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of C$41.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.21, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of C$47.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$46.05. BCE has a 1 year low of C$42.58 and a 1 year high of C$56.18.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of C$6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$6.07 billion. Equities analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.0598958 EPS for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.998 per share. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 185.58%.

BCE Company Profile

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.