BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target Raised to C$52.00

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price target raised by National Bankshares from C$50.00 to C$52.00 in a report released on Thursday, BayStreet.CA reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Cormark lowered their price objective on BCE from C$53.00 to C$52.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on BCE from C$47.00 to C$48.00 in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on BCE from C$51.00 to C$53.00 in a report on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on BCE from C$53.00 to C$50.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Desjardins upped their price target on BCE from C$48.00 to C$51.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of C$51.17.

BCE Price Performance

BCE opened at C$47.56 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is C$46.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$46.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43. BCE has a 1 year low of C$42.58 and a 1 year high of C$56.18. The firm has a market cap of C$43.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.12, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.48.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.80 by C($0.02). BCE had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 8.75%. The company had revenue of C$6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$6.07 billion. As a group, analysts predict that BCE will post 2.991195 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.998 per share. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 185.58%.

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.