BCE (TSE:BCE) Downgraded by Barclays to Underperform

Barclays lowered shares of BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) from an equal weight rating to an underperform rating in a research note published on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has C$30.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of C$41.00.

BCE has been the topic of several other research reports. TD Securities cut their price objective on BCE from C$37.00 to C$32.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on BCE from C$41.00 to C$37.50 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on BCE from C$41.00 to C$35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. National Bankshares dropped their price target on BCE from C$37.00 to C$35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on BCE from C$37.50 to C$33.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of C$40.88.

BCE Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of TSE BCE opened at C$34.61 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is C$34.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$41.69. BCE has a 52-week low of C$31.43 and a 52-week high of C$54.89. The stock has a market capitalization of C$31.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.10, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported C$0.75 earnings per share (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 period last year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that BCE will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th were given a $0.9975 dividend. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.