CIBC Issues Positive Forecast for BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Price

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price target raised by CIBC from C$35.00 to C$36.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. CIBC currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

BCE has been the subject of several other research reports. TD Securities lifted their price objective on BCE from C$33.00 to C$35.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Cibc World Mkts cut BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on BCE from C$28.00 to C$29.00 in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on BCE from C$31.50 to C$32.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on BCE from C$51.00 to C$35.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$34.67.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at C$35.24 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of C$32.44 and a 200 day moving average of C$31.96. BCE has a 12 month low of C$28.73 and a 12 month high of C$49.13. The stock has a market capitalization of C$31.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

BCE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. BCE’s payout ratio is 1,338.57%.

BCE Company Profile

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.