JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has Lowered Expectations for BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Price

BCE (TSE:BCE - Free Report) NYSE: BCE had its price target decreased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from C$29.00 to C$28.00 in a report published on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an underweight rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective 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. National Bankshares raised their target price on shares of BCE from C$35.00 to C$36.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. TD Securities lifted their price objective on BCE from C$31.00 to C$33.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on BCE from C$33.00 to C$33.50 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of BCE from C$42.00 to C$40.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of C$39.18.

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BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE stock traded down C$0.89 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting C$31.49. The stock had a trading volume of 6,082,060 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,952,893. The stock's 50 day moving average is C$33.71 and its 200 day moving average is C$37.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.43. 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. BCE has a twelve month low of C$30.71 and a twelve month high of C$49.13.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.9975 dividend. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. BCE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.