BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Declares $1.00 Quarterly Dividend

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 1st, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of 0.998 per share on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th.

BCE Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of BCE traded down C$0.38 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching C$46.69. The company had a trading volume of 160,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,904,122. 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 stock has a market cap of C$42.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.44. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of C$45.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$47.44. BCE has a fifty-two week low of C$42.58 and a fifty-two week high of C$58.10.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported C$0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.72. The firm had revenue of C$6.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$6.09 billion. BCE had a return on equity of 9.36% and a net margin of 7.88%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BCE will post 3.0157895 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of BCE from C$54.00 to C$51.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their target price on shares of BCE from C$53.00 to C$50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on BCE from C$46.00 to C$47.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on BCE from C$47.00 to C$46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$51.38.

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.