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

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE has been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the ten analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$52.15.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on BCE shares. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of BCE from C$53.25 to C$53.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on BCE from C$57.00 to C$55.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. National Bankshares dropped their target price on BCE from C$55.00 to C$53.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of BCE from C$57.00 to C$54.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on BCE from C$52.00 to C$48.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th.

BCE Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of BCE traded up C$0.82 on Friday, hitting C$45.96. 3,001,877 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,954,854. The company has a market capitalization of C$41.93 billion, a PE ratio of 23.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44. BCE has a one year low of C$43.96 and a one year high of C$64.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 184.91, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.61. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of C$46.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$50.82.

BCE (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported C$0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of C$0.73 by C$0.03. The business had revenue of C$6.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$6.48 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 9.36% and a net margin of 7.88%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.0296638 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.998 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 13th. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.69%. BCE's payout ratio is currently 206.74%.

BCE Company Profile

BCE Inc, a communications company, provides wireless, wireline, Internet, and television (TV) services to residential, business, and wholesale customers in Canada. The company operates through two segments, Bell Communication and Technology Services, and Bell Media. The Bell Communication and Technology Services segment provides wireless products and services including mobile data and voice plans and devices; wireline products and services comprising data, including internet access, internet protocol television, cloud-based services, and business solutions, as well as voice, and other communication services and products; and satellite TV and connectivity services for residential, small and medium-sized business, government, and large enterprise customers.