BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is C$38.50.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price target 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. TD Securities cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from C$41.00 to C$37.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of BCE from C$33.00 to C$37.00 in a report on Friday, February 6th. Desjardins decreased 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 report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, National Bank Financial upped their target price on shares of BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at C$34.78 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of C$33.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$33.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90. BCE has a 12 month low of C$29.20 and a 12 month high of C$36.25. The company has a market capitalization of C$32.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.14, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.33.

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

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 25.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Louis Vachon bought 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of C$33.39 per share, for a total transaction of C$500,850.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 75,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$2,504,250. This represents a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Thierry Chaumont sold 4,110 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.59, for a total value of C$138,054.90. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,255 shares of company stock valued at $376,465. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.