BCE (TSE:BCE) Sets New 52-Week Low - Here's Why

Key Points

• BCE shares fell to a new 52-week low of C$28.14 during Thursday trading, below the previous close of C$28.97.
• Despite the decline, analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of C$37.69.
• BCE declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4375 per share, equivalent to an annualized $1.75 payout and a 6.2% yield; director Louis Vachon also purchased 10,000 shares.

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE's share price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as C$28.14 and last traded at C$28.30, with a volume of 2200176 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$28.97.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BCE shares. Scotia upped their price objective on BCE from C$39.00 to C$40.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. TD Securities upgraded BCE from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Scotiabank lowered their price target on BCE from C$41.00 to C$39.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Raymond James Financial set a C$37.00 price objective on BCE and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded BCE from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from C$31.00 to C$35.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BCE has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of C$37.69.

BCE Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of C$26.36 billion, a PE ratio of 4.19, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.06, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of C$31.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$32.52.

BCE (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$0.65 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$6.18 billion during the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 25.89% and a return on equity of 27.73%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. BCE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.96%.

Insider Activity

In other BCE news, Director Louis Vachon acquired 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of C$30.63 per share, with a total value of C$306,300.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$3,063,000. The trade was a 11.11% increase in their position. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About BCE

Bell Media is Canada's leading media and entertainment company with a portfolio of assets in premium video, audio, out-of-home advertising, and digital media. This includes Canada's most-watched television network, CTV; the largest Canadian-owned video streamer, Crave, with a premium add-on to include STARZ; a powerful suite of specialty channels; the most-trusted news brand, CTV News; Canada's cross-platform sports leaders, TSN and RDS; leading out-of-home advertising network, Astral; Québec's fast-growing conventional French-language network, Noovo; the country's leading radio and podcast app, iHeartRadio Canada; and a range of award-winning original productions, brands, and services.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.