BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Rating Lowered by Barclays

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) was downgraded by research analysts at Barclays from an “equal weight” rating to an “underperform” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have a C$30.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of C$41.00. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential downside of 13.32% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD Securities cut their target price on shares of BCE from C$37.00 to C$32.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on BCE from C$45.00 to C$41.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on BCE from C$37.50 to C$33.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. National Bankshares cut their price objective on BCE from C$37.00 to C$35.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on BCE from C$45.00 to C$42.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of C$40.96.

BCE Stock Performance

TSE:BCE traded up C$0.40 on Thursday, reaching C$34.61. 510,872 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,394,303. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of C$31.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.10, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. BCE has a 52 week low of C$31.43 and a 52 week high of C$54.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of C$34.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$41.69.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported C$0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of C$0.77 by C($0.02). BCE had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 8.75%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BCE will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current year.

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.