BCE (TSE:BCE) Shares Cross Above 200 Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) shares passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$31.85 and traded as high as C$33.95. BCE shares last traded at C$33.39, with a volume of 2,569,411 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BCE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Cibc World Mkts lowered shares of BCE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. CIBC increased their price objective on shares of BCE from C$36.00 to C$37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. National Bankshares set a C$35.00 target price on shares of BCE and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of BCE from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from C$35.00 to C$47.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of C$36.17.

BCE Price Performance

The company has a market cap of C$30.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.59, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73. The company’s fifty day moving average price is C$33.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$31.85.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th were paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 745.65%.

BCE Company Profile

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.