BCE Inc. (BCE) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 14th

BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 7th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.6965 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.79 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.22%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th.

BCE has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.7% annually over the last three years. BCE has a payout ratio of 148.4% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect BCE to earn $1.94 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $2.79 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 143.8%.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at $24.83 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 206.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.06. BCE has a 52-week low of $21.87 and a 52-week high of $36.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. BCE had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 0.99%. Equities research analysts expect that BCE will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on BCE shares. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of BCE in a research report on Monday, December 16th. They set an “underweight” rating for the company. Barclays restated an “underweight” rating on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of BCE in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Bank of America downgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.00.

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.