BCE (TSE:BCE) Shares Pass Above 200-Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$0.00 and traded as high as C$36.59. BCE shares last traded at C$36.35, with a volume of 5,350,193 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on BCE from C$45.00 to C$41.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on BCE from C$33.00 to C$33.50 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. National Bankshares boosted their price target on BCE from C$35.00 to C$36.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. TD Securities boosted their price target on BCE from C$31.00 to C$33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut BCE from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from C$35.00 to C$29.00 in a report on Friday, February 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BCE currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of C$40.50.

BCE Trading Down 2.1 %

The stock has a market cap of C$31.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 117.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73. The company has a 50-day moving average price of C$33.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$39.15.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.9975 per share. This represents a $3.99 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 1,338.57%.

About BCE

BCE is both a wireless and internet service provider, offering wireless, broadband, television, and landline phone services in Canada. It is one of the big three national wireless carriers, with its roughly 10 million customers constituting about 30% of the market. It is also the ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrierthe legacy telephone provider) throughout much of the eastern half of Canada, including in the most populous Canadian provincesOntario and Quebec.