BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Receives C$58.88 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the eleven research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$58.23.

BCE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. CIBC reduced their target price on shares of BCE from C$56.00 to C$55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 3rd. TD Securities lowered their target price on BCE from C$56.00 to C$55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on BCE from C$54.00 to C$55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 3rd. National Bankshares lowered their price target on BCE from C$60.00 to C$56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 26th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of BCE from C$65.00 to C$55.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 10th.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE opened at C$54.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 162.87, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.57. BCE has a 1 year low of C$49.57 and a 1 year high of C$65.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average of C$52.72 and a 200-day moving average of C$56.99. The company has a market cap of C$49.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.52.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 15th will be given a $0.9675 dividend. This is a positive change from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 14th. This represents a $3.87 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.14%. BCE’s payout ratio is 158.61%.

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 three segments: Bell Wireless, Bell Wireline, and Bell Media. The Bell Wireless segment offers integrated digital wireless voice and data communication products and services, as well as consumer electronics products.