TD Securities Issues Positive Forecast for BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Price

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price target increased by TD Securities from C$31.00 to C$33.00 in a research report report published on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. TD Securities currently has a hold rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on BCE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of BCE from C$41.00 to C$35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on BCE from C$41.00 to C$37.50 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on BCE from C$45.00 to C$42.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays cut BCE from an “equal weight” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from C$41.00 to C$30.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, National Bankshares reduced their target price on shares of BCE from C$37.00 to C$35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$40.42.

BCE Trading Down 6.2 %

Shares of BCE stock opened at C$31.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of C$28.85 billion, a PE ratio of 14.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. BCE has a 52 week low of C$31.43 and a 52 week high of C$52.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of C$34.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$41.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.65.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BCE will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th were paid a $0.9975 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.62%. BCE’s payout ratio is 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.