BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target Cut to C$32.00 by Analysts at UBS Group

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its target price decreased by UBS Group from C$34.00 to C$32.00 in a research note released on Wednesday,BayStreet.CA reports.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on BCE. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on BCE from C$31.50 to C$32.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. TD Securities raised their price target on BCE from C$31.00 to C$33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. National Bank Financial upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Barclays downgraded BCE from an “equal weight” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from C$41.00 to C$30.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on BCE from C$37.00 to C$35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$37.17.

BCE Trading Down 1.2%

TSE:BCE opened at C$29.79 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is C$30.95 and its 200 day moving average price is C$33.70. The company has a market capitalization of C$26.98 billion, a PE ratio of 99.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73. BCE has a 52-week low of C$28.73 and a 52-week high of C$49.13.

BCE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were issued a $0.9975 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.39%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 1,338.57%.

BCE Company Profile

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.