BCE (TSE:BCE) Insider Sean Cohan Sells 3,645 Shares of Stock

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) insider Sean Cohan sold 3,645 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.48, for a total transaction of C$122,034.60.

BCE Trading Down 1.4%

BCE opened at C$32.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.43. BCE Inc. has a fifty-two week low of C$29.17 and a fifty-two week high of C$36.25. The firm has a market capitalization of C$30.51 billion, a PE ratio of 4.83, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.33. The company’s 50-day moving average is C$33.90 and its 200 day moving average is C$33.51.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C$0.63 earnings per share 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that BCE Inc. will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were paid a $0.4375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.3%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on BCE shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Barclays upgraded shares of BCE from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of BCE from C$33.00 to C$37.00 in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, National Bank Financial increased their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$37.78.

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.