The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Jan. 15, edition that BofA Securities analyst David Barden has lowered his recommendation for BCE to "underperform" from "neutral." The Globe's David Leeder writes in the Eye On Equities column that Mr. Barden slashed his share target by $9 to $36. Analysts on average target the shares at $39.26. Mr. Barden says in a note: "[We are downgrading BCE] due to 2025 growth headwinds coupled with high leverage and the dividend at over 120 per cent of free cash flow at the midpoint of 2024E guidance. We believe risks are to the downside until BCE can share a plan to address leverage and dividend concerns. In 2024, BCE announced two divestitures (NorthwesTel and MLSE), one acquisition (Ziply), paused dividend growth until YE2025, and introduced a discount on its DRIP to conserve cash. Collectively, these measures slightly improve BCE's growth prospects but slightly increase net leverage and do not change underlying issues. Until there is clarity on lowering leverage and achieving a sustainable dividend, we see BCE shares underperforming its peers. Our $36 price objective is based on a forward price to FCF multiple of nine times and implies a forward EV/EBITDA multiple of seven times."