Scotiabank Lowers BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target to C$40.00

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price objective reduced by Scotiabank from C$42.00 to C$40.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the stock.

BCE has been the subject of a number of other reports. National Bankshares lowered their price target on BCE from C$37.00 to C$35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on shares of BCE from C$41.00 to C$37.50 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced 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 boosted their price objective on shares of BCE from C$33.00 to C$33.50 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays cut shares of BCE from an “equal weight” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from C$41.00 to C$30.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BCE presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$40.42.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at C$31.62 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of C$34.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$41.31. The firm has a market cap of C$28.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.71, 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$52.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43, 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, November 7th. The company reported C$0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that BCE will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th were paid a dividend of $0.9975 per share. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 16th. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 185.58%.

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.