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

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price target cut by Cormark from C$58.00 to C$53.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, BayStreet.CA reports. Cormark also issued estimates for BCE’s Q1 2024 earnings at $0.70 EPS.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on BCE. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on 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. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on 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. Desjardins decreased their price objective on 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. TD Securities decreased their price objective on 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. Finally, CIBC decreased their price objective on BCE from C$54.00 to C$52.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of C$52.48.

BCE Price Performance

TSE:BCE opened at C$44.80 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.98. The company has a market capitalization of C$40.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.65, a P/E/G 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. The business’s 50-day moving average is C$47.53 and its 200 day moving average is C$51.27.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The company reported C$0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.73 by C$0.03. The company had revenue of C$6.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$6.48 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 9.17%. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.998 per share. This is a boost from BCE’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.97. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.91%. BCE’s dividend 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 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.