BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• BCE Inc. has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from thirteen analysts, with ratings ranging from sell to strong buy.
• The average target price for BCE shares among analysts is C$34.92, reflecting varied outlooks from different brokerages.
• BCE recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.4375, resulting in an annual yield of 5.2%, despite a high dividend payout ratio of 745.65%.

Shares of BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE have been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the thirteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$34.92.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BCE shares. CIBC raised their price objective on BCE from C$35.00 to C$36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on BCE from C$51.00 to C$35.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Desjardins raised their price objective on BCE from C$40.50 to C$41.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Cibc World Mkts lowered BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, September 8th.

BCE Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of TSE:BCE opened at C$33.46 on Friday. BCE has a 1 year low of C$28.73 and a 1 year high of C$46.62. The firm has a market capitalization of C$30.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.57. 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 business's 50 day moving average price is C$33.41 and its 200-day moving average price is C$31.77.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a $0.4375 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.2%. BCE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 745.65%.

About BCE

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.

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