BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Receives C$51.31 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE have been given an average rating of "Hold" by the ten brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$51.31.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BCE shares. CIBC upgraded shares of BCE from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of BCE from C$48.00 to C$47.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of BCE from C$54.00 to C$51.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of BCE from C$46.00 to C$47.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on shares of BCE from C$53.00 to C$50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th.

BCE Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of BCE traded down C$0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching C$45.62. The company had a trading volume of 1,713,987 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,943,694. BCE has a 52 week low of C$42.58 and a 52 week high of C$59.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of C$45.43 and a 200 day moving average price of C$48.01. The company has a market capitalization of C$41.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 184.91, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.61.

BCE (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported C$0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of C$0.72. The business had revenue of C$6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$6.09 billion. BCE had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 9.36%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.0157895 EPS for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.998 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.75%. BCE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 207.81%.

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.