BCE (TSE:BCE) Releases Earnings Results

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported C$0.63 EPS for the quarter, FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of C$6.17 billion for the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 31.99%.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at C$33.09 on Friday. BCE has a 12-month low of C$29.17 and a 12-month high of C$36.25. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is C$34.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$33.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 179.16. The firm has a market cap of C$30.86 billion, a PE ratio of 4.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.33.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were issued a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on BCE. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. National Bank Financial increased their target price on shares of BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Barclays upgraded shares of BCE from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Desjardins lowered their target price on shares of BCE from C$41.50 to C$41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$37.78.

BCE Company Profile

Bell Media is Canada’s leading media and entertainment company with a portfolio of assets in premium video, audio, out-of-home advertising, and digital media. This includes Canada’s most-watched television network, CTV; the largest Canadian-owned video streamer, Crave, with a premium add-on to include STARZ; a powerful suite of specialty channels; the most-trusted news brand, CTV News; Canada’s cross-platform sports leaders, TSN and RDS; leading out-of-home advertising network, Astral; Québec’s fast-growing conventional French-language network, Noovo; the country’s leading radio and podcast app, iHeartRadio Canada; and a range of award-winning original productions, brands, and services.