BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Receives C$38.50 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$38.50.

Several brokerages have recently commented on BCE. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. TD Securities lowered BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from C$41.00 to C$37.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Desjardins cut their target price on BCE from C$41.50 to C$41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of TSE BCE opened at C$32.74 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of C$33.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$33.77. 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 has a market capitalization of C$30.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.84, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.24. BCE has a one year low of C$29.68 and a one year high of C$36.25.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C$0.63 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$6.17 billion for the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 26.07% and a return on equity of 29.69%. Sell-side analysts expect that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be given a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.85%.

Insider Transactions at BCE

In related news, insider Karine Moses sold 3,500 shares of BCE stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.25, for a total value of C$116,375.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 3,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$123,424. This trade represents a 48.53% decrease in their position. Also, insider Thierry Chaumont sold 4,110 shares of BCE stock in a transaction that occurred 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. Insiders sold a total of 11,255 shares of company stock worth $376,465 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.