BCE (TSE:BCE) Reaches New 12-Month Low - Here's What Happened

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE's share price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as C$31.17 and last traded at C$31.27, with a volume of 3114589 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$32.63.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on BCE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on BCE from C$29.00 to C$28.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of BCE from C$42.00 to C$40.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of BCE from C$45.00 to C$41.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Securities raised their price objective on BCE from C$31.00 to C$33.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised shares of BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of C$39.18.

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BCE Trading Down 2.7 %

The firm has a market capitalization of C$28.52 billion, a PE ratio of 105.64, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. The company's 50-day moving average price is C$33.71 and its 200-day moving average price is C$37.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.62.

BCE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be issued a $0.9975 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.67%. BCE's payout ratio is currently 1,338.57%.

About BCE

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.