BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Price Passes Below 200-Day Moving Average - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• BCE shares fell below their 200‑day moving average, trading as low as C$30.96 and last at C$31.25 versus the 200‑day MA of C$32.55.
• Analysts are broadly positive with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$36.41, following upgrades from banks including RBC, CIBC and Scotiabank.
• BCE offers a quarterly dividend of C$0.4375 (annualized C$1.75) for a 5.6% yield (ex‑dividend Dec 15), but carries high leverage (debt‑to‑equity ~226.7) and low profitability (net margin ~1.1%).

Shares of BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE crossed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$32.55 and traded as low as C$30.96. BCE shares last traded at C$31.25, with a volume of 4,630,656 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on BCE shares. CIBC raised BCE from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Scotiabank raised their target price on BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded BCE from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the company from C$35.00 to C$47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Cibc Captl Mkts upgraded BCE from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Desjardins raised their price objective on BCE from C$41.00 to C$42.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of C$36.41.

BCE Trading Down 0.9%

The stock has a 50-day moving average of C$32.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$32.55. The company has a market cap of C$29.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.51. 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 (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported C$0.79 EPS for the quarter. BCE had a return on equity of 1.39% and a net margin of 1.10%.The business had revenue of C$6.05 billion for the quarter. On average, equities research analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. BCE's dividend payout ratio is 43.09%.

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. Additionally, BCE has a media segment, which holds television, radio, and digital media assets.

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