Scotiabank Cuts BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target to C$53.00

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price target decreased by Scotiabank from C$53.25 to C$53.00 in a report published on Friday, BayStreet.CA reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector perform rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. CIBC raised shares of BCE from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on BCE from C$54.00 to C$47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Securities decreased their target price on BCE from C$48.00 to C$47.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on shares of BCE from C$57.00 to C$55.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Cormark reduced their price objective on shares of BCE from C$58.00 to C$53.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of C$52.15.

BCE Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of TSE BCE opened at C$45.86 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of C$41.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.76, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is C$46.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$50.78. BCE has a 12-month low of C$43.96 and a 12-month high of C$64.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 184.91.

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

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.998 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 13th. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.70%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 206.74%.

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.