TD Securities Issues Pessimistic Forecast for BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Price

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its target price cut by TD Securities from C$32.00 to C$31.00 in a report issued on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the stock. TD Securities’ target price indicates a potential downside of 10.35% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Barclays cut BCE from an “equal weight” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from C$41.00 to C$30.00 in a report on Thursday. Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price objective on shares of BCE from C$37.50 to C$33.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on BCE from C$41.00 to C$35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on BCE from C$41.00 to C$37.50 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of BCE from C$45.00 to C$42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$40.88.

BCE Stock Performance

BCE stock traded up C$0.37 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching C$34.58. 590,103 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,399,084. The company has a 50-day moving average price of C$34.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$41.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 197.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of C$31.55 billion, a PE ratio of 16.08, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS 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.