BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average - Time to Sell?

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$0.00 and traded as high as C$33.65. BCE shares last traded at C$33.54, with a volume of 5,061,708 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BCE. TD Securities reduced their target price on shares of BCE from C$37.00 to C$32.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of BCE from C$45.00 to C$42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Barclays reduced their price target on BCE from C$46.00 to C$41.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. 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 for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, National Bank Financial downgraded BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of C$41.88.

BCE Stock Down 0.5 %

The company has a market cap of C$30.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.53, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. The business's 50 day moving average price is C$35.35 and its 200-day moving average price is C$42.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

BCE (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported C$0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.77 by C($0.02). BCE had a net margin of 8.75% and a return on equity of 10.63%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.81 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a $0.9975 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.95%. BCE's payout ratio is 185.58%.

BCE Company Profile

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.