BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) Announces C$0.44 Quarterly Dividend

BCE, Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a dividend of 0.4375 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th.

BCE has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years. BCE has a dividend payout ratio of 66.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect BCE to earn $1.94 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.25 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 64.4%.

BCE Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of BCE stock traded down $0.75 during trading on Thursday, reaching $25.60. 7,902,170 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,587,652. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $23.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.32 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. BCE has a twelve month low of $20.28 and a twelve month high of $26.49.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $4.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 17.35% and a net margin of 25.62%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BCE will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BCE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Cibc Captl Mkts raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of BCE from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Barrington Research upgraded BCE from an “underperform” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $26.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.00.

BCE Company Profile

BCE Inc (NYSE: BCE) is a Canadian communications, media and entertainment company that operates through its primary subsidiaries, including Bell Canada and Bell Media. As a large integrated telecommunications provider, BCE delivers a broad range of connectivity services and content to residential, business and wholesale customers across Canada. The company combines network infrastructure with media assets to offer bundled communications and entertainment solutions.

On the services side, BCE provides fixed-line and wireless voice services, mobile data, high-speed internet, fibre and broadband access, and television services through platforms such as Bell Fibe and Bell TV.