BCE (TSE:BCE) Downgraded by Barclays to “Strong Sell”

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

A number of other research firms have also commented on BCE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of BCE from C$41.00 to C$35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on BCE from C$37.50 to C$33.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. TD Securities lowered their price target on BCE from C$37.00 to C$32.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on BCE from C$45.00 to C$41.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of BCE from C$45.00 to C$42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$41.88.

BCE Trading Down 0.6 %

TSE:BCE opened at C$33.34 on Tuesday. BCE has a 1 year low of C$31.43 and a 1 year high of C$55.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is C$35.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$42.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap 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 (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported C$0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.77 by C($0.02). BCE had a net margin of 8.75% and a return on equity of 10.63%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current year.

BCE Company Profile

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.