BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.73

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 1st, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of 0.729 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.64%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th.

BCE has increased its dividend by an average of 4.9% annually over the last three years. BCE has a payout ratio of 131.4% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect BCE to earn $2.24 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $2.93 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 130.8%.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $33.75. The company had a trading volume of 966,019 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,301,341. BCE has a 12-month low of $31.13 and a 12-month high of $42.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The company has a market capitalization of $30.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.48, a P/E/G ratio of 5.65 and a beta of 0.57.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.53. The company had revenue of $4.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.47 billion. BCE had a net margin of 7.53% and a return on equity of 16.86%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BCE will post 2.2 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BCE shares. CIBC raised shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of BCE from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.33.

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.