Analysts Set BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Price Target at C$34.92

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$34.92.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Desjardins boosted their target price on shares of BCE from C$40.50 to C$41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of BCE from C$51.00 to C$35.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. CIBC increased their target price on shares of BCE from C$35.00 to C$36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, National Bankshares set a C$35.00 price objective on shares of BCE and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th.

BCE Trading Down 2.1%

TSE:BCE opened at C$32.75 on Friday. BCE has a one year low of C$28.73 and a one year high of C$46.62. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of C$33.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$31.78. 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 firm has a market cap of C$30.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.20, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.57.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is 745.65%.

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.