Royal Bank of Canada Raises BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target to C$53.00

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price objective increased by Royal Bank of Canada from C$51.00 to C$53.00 in a report released on Thursday, BayStreet.CA reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Cormark cut their target price on shares of BCE from C$53.00 to C$52.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. National Bankshares cut their target price on shares of BCE from C$52.00 to C$50.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of BCE from C$47.00 to C$48.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of BCE from C$47.00 to C$48.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on shares of BCE from C$53.00 to C$50.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of C$51.17.

BCE Price Performance

TSE:BCE opened at C$47.56 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of C$43.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.12, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.48. BCE has a one year low of C$42.58 and a one year high of C$56.18. The company has a fifty day moving average price of C$46.95 and a 200 day moving average price of C$46.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported C$0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of C$0.80 by C($0.02). The company had revenue of C$6.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$6.07 billion. BCE had a net margin of 8.75% and a return on equity of 10.63%. Analysts anticipate that BCE will post 2.991195 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.998 per share. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.39%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 185.58%.

About BCE

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.