BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average - Should You Sell?

Shares of BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$31.98 and traded as high as C$32.96. BCE shares last traded at C$32.57, with a volume of 4,196,256 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BCE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on BCE from C$31.50 to C$32.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective 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, May 9th. Scotiabank raised shares of BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a C$39.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. 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. Finally, Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of C$36.73.

BCE Price Performance

The stock's fifty day moving average price is C$30.42 and its 200-day moving average price is C$31.98. The firm has a market cap of C$29.50 billion, a PE ratio of 109.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.37%. BCE's dividend payout ratio is presently 1,338.57%.

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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