BCE (TSE:BCE) Releases Earnings Results

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported C$0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, FiscalAI reports. BCE had a return on equity of 29.69% and a net margin of 26.07%.The firm had revenue of C$6.18 billion for the quarter.

BCE Stock Performance

TSE BCE opened at C$31.87 on Friday. The company has a market cap of C$29.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.30. BCE has a twelve month low of C$29.66 and a twelve month high of C$36.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90. The business’s fifty day moving average is C$31.81 and its 200 day moving average is C$33.41.

BCE Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th were issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.85%.

Insider Transactions at BCE

In other news, Director Louis Vachon bought 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of C$33.39 per share, for a total transaction of C$500,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 75,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$2,504,250. This trade represents a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Karine Moses sold 3,500 shares of BCE stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.25, for a total value of C$116,375.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 3,712 shares in the company, valued at C$123,424. The trade was a 48.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders sold 11,255 shares of company stock worth $376,464 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BCE. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on BCE from C$41.00 to C$39.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. TD Securities upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley upgraded BCE from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from C$31.00 to C$35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on BCE from C$35.00 to C$33.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a C$37.00 target price on shares of BCE and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$37.29.

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.