National Bankshares Trims BCE (TSE:BCE) Target Price to C$53.00

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price objective lowered by National Bankshares from C$55.00 to C$53.00 in a report released on Monday morning, BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on BCE. Desjardins reduced their target price on shares of BCE from C$58.00 to C$55.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on BCE from C$58.00 to C$54.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. CIBC lowered their price objective on BCE from C$56.00 to C$54.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Barclays dropped their target price on BCE from C$55.00 to C$52.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on BCE from C$59.00 to C$57.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of C$55.65.

BCE Price Performance

TSE:BCE opened at C$46.50 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is C$50.85 and its 200 day moving average is C$52.33. BCE has a 12 month low of C$45.40 and a 12 month high of C$65.66. The company has a market capitalization of C$42.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.98.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported C$0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of C$0.73 by C$0.03. BCE had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 9.17%. The business had revenue of C$6.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of C$6.48 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.0694723 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.998 per share. This is a positive change from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 14th. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 175.00%.

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 three segments: Bell Wireless, Bell Wireline, and Bell Media. The Bell Wireless segment offers integrated digital wireless voice and data communication products and services, as well as consumer electronics products.