BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Receives C$37.85 Consensus PT from Analysts

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$37.85.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded shares of BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on BCE from C$40.25 to C$39.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 6th. Barclays raised BCE from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on BCE from C$33.00 to C$37.00 in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Desjardins lowered their price target on BCE from C$41.00 to C$40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 6th.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at C$35.01 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of C$32.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.16, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.47. BCE has a 12-month low of C$28.73 and a 12-month high of C$36.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm’s 50-day moving average is C$33.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$33.15.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th were issued a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 34.02%.

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.