BCE (TSE:BCE) Hits New 1-Year Low at $43.81

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as C$43.81 and last traded at C$43.82, with a volume of 289927 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at C$44.31.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on BCE from C$57.00 to C$54.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on BCE from C$46.00 to C$47.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. CIBC upgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. National Bankshares reduced their price objective on BCE from C$52.00 to C$50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Cormark dropped their target price on BCE from C$58.00 to C$53.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BCE currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$52.00.

BCE Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 184.91. The business has a 50-day moving average price of C$45.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$48.73. The firm has a market capitalization of C$39.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.08, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported C$0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.72. BCE had a return on equity of 9.36% and a net margin of 7.88%. The business had revenue of C$6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$6.09 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 3.0157895 EPS for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be issued a $0.998 dividend. This represents a $3.99 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 207.81%.

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.