BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target Cut to C$36.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price target lowered by Royal Bank Of Canada from C$39.00 to C$36.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Desjardins dropped their price target 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. Scotiabank dropped their target price on BCE from C$41.00 to C$39.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. TD raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a C$37.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, TD Securities upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BCE presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$37.30.

BCE Stock Up 0.2%

BCE stock traded up C$0.07 during midday trading on Friday, reaching C$30.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,666,311 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,103,499. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of C$28.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.47, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.29. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is C$32.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$33.65. BCE has a 52-week low of C$29.66 and a 52-week high of C$36.25.

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

BCE Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be paid a $0.4375 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.8%. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 25.85%.

Insider Transactions at BCE

In other BCE news, insider Thierry Chaumont sold 4,110 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.59, for a total value of C$138,054.90. Also, insider Sean Cohan sold 3,645 shares of BCE stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.48, for a total transaction of C$122,034.60. Insiders have sold a total of 11,255 shares of company stock valued at $376,464 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.