BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Receives C$37.04 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$37.04.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group cut their target price on BCE from C$34.00 to C$32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on BCE from C$28.00 to C$29.00 in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Scotiabank upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a C$39.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. National Bankshares set a C$35.00 price target on BCE and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Desjardins lifted their price target on BCE from C$36.00 to C$39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of TSE:BCE opened at C$30.69 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is C$30.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$32.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of C$27.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 102.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. BCE has a fifty-two week low of C$28.73 and a fifty-two week high of C$49.13.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.70%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 1,338.57%.

BCE Company Profile

BCE is both a wireless and internet service provider, offering wireless, broadband, television, and landline phone services in Canada. It is one of the big three national wireless carriers, with its roughly 10 million customers constituting about 30% of the market. It is also the ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrierthe legacy telephone provider) throughout much of the eastern half of Canada, including in the most populous Canadian provincesOntario and Quebec.