BCE (TSE:BCE) Upgraded to “Outperform” at CIBC

CIBC upgraded shares of BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, BayStreet.CA reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Desjardins lowered their price objective on shares of BCE from C$58.00 to C$55.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of BCE from C$54.00 to C$47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Securities lowered their price objective on shares of BCE from C$55.00 to C$51.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of BCE from C$57.00 to C$54.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of BCE from C$57.00 to C$55.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of C$52.48.

BCE Trading Down 0.8 %

TSE BCE opened at C$44.92 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.98, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is C$47.11 and its 200 day moving average price is C$51.11. The company has a market capitalization of C$40.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44. BCE has a 12 month low of C$43.96 and a 12 month high of C$65.66.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported C$0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.73 by C$0.03. The firm had revenue of C$6.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$6.48 billion. BCE had a net margin of 9.17% and a return on equity of 10.81%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BCE will post 3.0377747 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.998 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.89%. This is a boost from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 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 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.