BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.00

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, May 2nd, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of 0.998 per share on Monday, July 15th. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th.

BCE Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of TSE BCE traded up C$0.82 during trading on Friday, hitting C$45.96. 3,004,954 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,954,854. The firm has a market capitalization of C$41.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.98. The company has a 50-day moving average price of C$46.52 and a 200-day moving average price of C$50.88. BCE has a 1 year low of C$43.96 and a 1 year high of C$65.11.

BCE (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE last posted 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 firm 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 10.81% and a net margin of 9.17%. On average, equities analysts predict that BCE will post 3.0377747 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on BCE. Cormark decreased their price target on BCE from C$58.00 to C$53.00 in a report on Thursday, April 18th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded BCE from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from C$54.00 to C$46.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. TD Securities decreased their price target on shares of BCE from C$48.00 to C$47.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday. Desjardins lowered their price objective on BCE from C$58.00 to C$55.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of BCE from C$54.00 to C$47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of C$52.15.

About BCE

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.