Cormark Trims BCE (TSE:BCE) Target Price to C$53.00

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price objective reduced by Cormark from C$58.00 to C$53.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, BayStreet.CA reports. Cormark also issued estimates for BCE’s Q1 2024 earnings at $0.70 EPS.

BCE has been the topic of several other reports. Desjardins dropped their price objective on shares of BCE from C$58.00 to C$55.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of BCE from C$52.00 to C$48.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of BCE from C$57.00 to C$54.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of BCE from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and dropped their price objective for the company from C$54.00 to C$46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered 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. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of C$52.48.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at C$44.80 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is C$47.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$51.27. The stock has a market capitalization of C$40.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.65, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44. BCE has a 12 month low of C$43.96 and a 12 month high of C$65.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.98, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported C$0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.73 by C$0.03. The business had revenue of C$6.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$6.48 billion. BCE had a net margin of 9.17% and a return on equity of 10.81%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.0377747 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were given a $0.998 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.91%. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 175.00%.

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.