BCE (TSE:BCE) Upgraded to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) was upgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has a C$35.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of C$31.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 15.06% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on BCE. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on BCE from C$35.00 to C$33.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. TD Securities raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on BCE from C$39.00 to C$36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on BCE from C$41.00 to C$39.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, TD raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a C$37.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$37.29.

BCE Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of TSE:BCE traded down C$0.15 during trading on Tuesday, reaching C$30.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,863,088 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,099,505. The stock has a market capitalization of C$28.37 billion, a PE ratio of 4.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.29. BCE has a 12 month low of C$29.66 and a 12 month high of C$36.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is C$32.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$33.62.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C$0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. BCE had a return on equity of 29.69% and a net margin of 26.07%.The business had revenue of C$6.17 billion during the quarter. On average, research analysts predict that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BCE

In other BCE news, insider Sean Cohan sold 3,645 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.48, for a total value of C$122,034.60. Also, insider Thierry Chaumont sold 4,110 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.59, for a total transaction of C$138,054.90. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,255 shares of company stock valued at $376,464. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.