BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target Raised to C$42.00

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price objective increased by Desjardins from C$40.00 to C$42.00 in a report published on Tuesday,BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of BCE from C$33.00 to C$37.00 in a research report on Friday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a C$37.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. National Bank Financial increased 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 Friday, February 6th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of BCE from C$38.00 to C$40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Barclays raised BCE from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BCE currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$37.70.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of TSE:BCE opened at C$35.35 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 179.16, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The business’s fifty day moving average price is C$34.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$33.37. BCE has a fifty-two week low of C$28.73 and a fifty-two week high of C$36.25. The stock has a market capitalization of C$32.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.38.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 6th. The company reported C$0.69 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$6.40 billion for the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 31.99%. As a group, 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 will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be 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 is Monday, March 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.