BCE Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.70 (NYSE:BCE)

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 7th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.6965 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.79 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th.

BCE has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.7% annually over the last three years. BCE has a payout ratio of 143.3% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect BCE to earn $1.97 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $2.78 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 141.1%.

BCE Stock Performance

BCE traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $22.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,749,317 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,735,207. BCE has a 52 week low of $21.87 and a 52 week high of $38.21. The company's 50-day moving average is $24.01 and its 200-day moving average is $29.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of $20.54 billion, a PE ratio of 187.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.57.

BCE (NYSE:BCE - Get Free Report) TSE: BCE last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 0.99%. On average, equities analysts forecast that BCE will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on BCE shares. Canaccord Genuity Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Bank of America lowered BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Edward Jones lowered BCE from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays reaffirmed an "underweight" rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered BCE from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, BCE presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $40.50.

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.