Brokerages Set BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Target Price at C$37.31

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$37.31.

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotia increased their price target on shares of BCE from C$39.00 to C$40.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank cut their price objective 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. Raymond James Financial set a C$37.00 target price on BCE and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. TD upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a C$37.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Desjardins dropped their price target on BCE from C$43.50 to C$41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at C$31.38 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of C$29.26 billion, a PE ratio of 4.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.30. BCE has a 52 week low of C$29.66 and a 52 week high of C$36.25. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is C$31.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$33.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.06.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$0.65 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$6.18 billion during the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 25.89% and a return on equity of 27.73%. On average, equities research analysts predict that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th were given a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.96%.

Insider Activity at BCE

In related news, insider Thierry Chaumont sold 4,110 shares of the stock in a transaction 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. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About BCE

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.