BCE (TSE:BCE) Downgraded to Strong Sell Rating by Barclays

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) was downgraded by Barclays from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. TD Securities lowered their target price on shares of BCE from C$37.00 to C$32.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of BCE from C$45.00 to C$41.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on shares of BCE from C$41.00 to C$37.50 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on BCE from C$37.50 to C$33.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, National Bank Financial downgraded BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BCE has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$41.88.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at C$33.34 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company’s fifty day moving average price is C$35.26 and its 200 day moving average price is C$42.01. The stock has a market capitalization of C$30.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. BCE has a 1 year low of C$31.43 and a 1 year high of C$55.75.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported C$0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.77 by C($0.02). BCE had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 8.75%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BCE will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.