BCE (TSE:BCE) Reaches New 1-Year Low After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday after National Bank Financial lowered their price target on the stock from C$38.00 to C$36.00. National Bank Financial currently has an outperform rating on the stock. BCE traded as low as C$28.14 and last traded at C$28.30, with a volume of 2200176 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$28.97.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on BCE. Desjardins lifted their price objective on shares of BCE from C$41.00 to C$43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on shares of BCE from C$35.00 to C$33.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of BCE from C$41.00 to C$39.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Scotia lifted their price target on BCE from C$39.00 to C$40.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, TD Securities raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$37.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Louis Vachon bought 10,000 shares of BCE stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of C$30.63 per share, with a total value of C$306,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 100,000 shares in the company, valued at C$3,063,000. The trade was a 11.11% increase in their position. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BCE Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.06, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of C$26.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.18, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.37. The firm’s fifty day moving average is C$31.49 and its 200 day moving average is C$32.44.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$6.18 billion during the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 25.89% and a return on equity of 27.73%. As a group, analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.2%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.96%.

BCE Company Profile

Bell Media is Canada’s leading media and entertainment company with a portfolio of assets in premium video, audio, out-of-home advertising, and digital media. This includes Canada’s most-watched television network, CTV; the largest Canadian-owned video streamer, Crave, with a premium add-on to include STARZ; a powerful suite of specialty channels; the most-trusted news brand, CTV News; Canada’s cross-platform sports leaders, TSN and RDS; leading out-of-home advertising network, Astral; Québec’s fast-growing conventional French-language network, Noovo; the country’s leading radio and podcast app, iHeartRadio Canada; and a range of award-winning original productions, brands, and services.