BCE (TSE:BCE) Insider Thierry Chaumont Sells 4,110 Shares of Stock

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) insider Thierry Chaumont sold 4,110 shares of BCE stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.59, for a total transaction of C$138,054.90.

BCE Trading Down 1.4%

BCE stock opened at C$32.72 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of C$33.90 and a 200 day moving average price of C$33.51. BCE Inc. has a 52 week low of C$29.17 and a 52 week high of C$36.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of C$30.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.83, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.33.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C$0.63 EPS for the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 26.07% and a return on equity of 29.69%. The firm had revenue of C$6.17 billion during the quarter. Research analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BCE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price 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. lifted their target price on shares of BCE from C$33.00 to C$37.00 in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Scotiabank lifted their target price 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 raised shares of BCE from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Desjardins decreased their target price on shares of BCE from C$41.50 to C$41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BCE has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.