BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Receives C$34.67 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Key Points

• BCE Inc. has received an average rating of "Hold" from thirteen analysts, with two sell ratings, seven hold ratings, two buy ratings, and two strong buy ratings.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4375 per share, representing a 5.0% annual yield, with a payout ratio of 1,338.57%.
• BCE's current market price is C$35.24, with a twelve-month high of C$49.13 and low of C$28.73.

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE has been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$34.67.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of BCE from C$51.00 to C$35.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a C$39.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of BCE from C$31.50 to C$32.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Cibc World Mkts downgraded shares of BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of BCE from C$34.00 to C$32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st.

BCE Stock Performance

TSE BCE traded down C$0.30 during trading hours on Friday, hitting C$34.14. The company had a trading volume of 2,321,807 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,758,582. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.62. BCE has a 1-year low of C$28.73 and a 1-year high of C$49.13. The company has a market cap of C$30.92 billion, a PE ratio of 114.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50 day moving average of C$32.80 and a 200-day moving average of C$31.99.

BCE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.1%. 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.