Scotiabank Cuts BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target to C$53.25

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price objective trimmed by Scotiabank from C$55.50 to C$53.25 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has a sector perform rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on BCE. Barclays cut their price target on BCE from C$52.00 to C$48.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on BCE from C$54.00 to C$47.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Securities cut their price target on BCE from C$55.00 to C$51.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Desjardins cut their price target on BCE from C$58.00 to C$55.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their target price on BCE from C$57.00 to C$55.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BCE currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of C$52.48.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at C$44.80 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of C$40.87 billion, a PE ratio of 19.65, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44. BCE has a one year low of C$43.96 and a one year high of C$65.66. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is C$47.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$51.26. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported C$0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.73 by C$0.03. The firm had revenue of C$6.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$6.48 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 9.17%. As a group, research analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.0377747 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Increases Dividend

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

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.