BCE (TSE:BCE) Reaches New 52-Week Low on Analyst Downgrade

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from C$39.00 to C$37.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. BCE traded as low as C$30.39 and last traded at C$30.54, with a volume of 1880661 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$31.49.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on BCE. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on BCE from C$42.00 to C$40.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. National Bankshares boosted their price target on BCE from C$35.00 to C$36.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. National Bank Financial upgraded BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays lowered shares of BCE from an "equal weight" rating to an "underperform" rating and cut their target price for the company from C$41.00 to C$30.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on shares of BCE from C$33.50 to C$31.50 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of C$38.82.

BCE Stock Up 1.0 %

The firm has a market cap of C$26.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 99.34, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of C$33.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$36.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

BCE Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.9975 dividend. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. BCE's dividend 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.