BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Price Down 7.9% - Time to Sell?

Shares of BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE dropped 7.9% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as C$40.40 and last traded at C$41.28. Approximately 1,954,820 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 33% from the average daily volume of 2,922,259 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$44.81.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BCE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of BCE from C$50.00 to C$52.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. National Bankshares downgraded shares of BCE from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from C$52.00 to C$48.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of BCE from C$48.00 to C$51.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Cormark reduced their price objective on shares of BCE from C$53.00 to C$52.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on BCE from C$46.00 to C$47.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of C$50.36.

BCE Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is C$46.73. The company has a market cap of C$36.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.82, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48.

BCE (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.80 by C($0.02). BCE had a net margin of 8.75% and a return on equity of 10.63%. The company had revenue of C$6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$6.07 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a dividend of $0.998 per share. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.86%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. BCE's payout ratio is 185.58%.

About BCE

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.