TD Securities Cuts BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target to C$50.00

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price target trimmed by TD Securities from C$51.00 to C$50.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has a hold rating on the stock.

BCE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Desjardins increased their target price on BCE from C$48.00 to C$51.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on BCE from C$50.00 to C$52.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Cormark reduced their target price on BCE from C$53.00 to C$52.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. National Bankshares downgraded BCE from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and reduced their target price for the stock from C$52.00 to C$48.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, National Bank Financial downgraded BCE from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of C$51.00.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at C$45.76 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.65. BCE has a 1 year low of C$42.58 and a 1 year high of C$56.18. The firm has a market cap of C$41.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of C$47.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$46.05.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$6.07 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that BCE will post 3.0598958 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $0.998 dividend. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.72%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.