BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Receives C$38.77 Average PT from Analysts

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE has earned an average rating of "Hold" from the eleven analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$38.77.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on BCE from C$29.00 to C$28.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. National Bank Financial raised shares of BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on BCE from C$39.00 to C$37.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on BCE from C$40.00 to C$39.50 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, TD Securities increased 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.

BCE Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of TSE BCE traded down C$0.23 on Friday, reaching C$30.61. 354,739 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,998,766. BCE has a 12 month low of C$28.73 and a 12 month high of C$49.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73. The business's 50 day simple moving average is C$32.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$35.69. The company has a market cap of C$27.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.9975 per share. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.03%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. BCE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 1,338.57%.

BCE Company Profile

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.