Brokerages Set BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Price Target at C$40.50

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) has received an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$40.50.

Several analysts have commented on BCE shares. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of BCE from C$33.00 to C$33.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on BCE from C$42.00 to C$40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from C$35.00 to C$29.00 in a research note on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities increased their target price on BCE from C$31.00 to C$33.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, National Bankshares boosted their price target on shares of BCE from C$35.00 to C$36.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at C$32.63 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.62. The company’s fifty day moving average price is C$33.81 and its 200-day moving average price is C$37.74. BCE has a one year low of C$31.43 and a one year high of C$49.13. The company has a market capitalization of C$29.56 billion, a PE ratio of 109.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48.

BCE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a $0.9975 dividend. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 1,338.57%.

About BCE

BCE is both a wireless and internet service provider, offering wireless, broadband, television, and landline phone services in Canada. It is one of the big three national wireless carriers, with its roughly 10 million customers constituting about 30% of the market. It is also the ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrierthe legacy telephone provider) throughout much of the eastern half of Canada, including in the most populous Canadian provincesOntario and Quebec.