Scotia Issues Positive Forecast for BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Price

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its target price upped by equities researchers at Scotia from C$39.00 to C$40.00 in a research note issued on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. The firm presently has a “sector outperform” rating on the stock. Scotia’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 26.50% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on BCE. Morgan Stanley raised BCE from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from C$31.00 to C$35.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on BCE from C$39.00 to C$36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Desjardins lowered their target price on BCE from C$43.50 to C$41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank lowered 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 note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on BCE from C$35.00 to C$33.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BCE has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$37.31.

BCE Stock Performance

BCE stock traded down C$0.25 on Friday, hitting C$31.62. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,369,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,197,726. The firm has a 50 day moving average of C$31.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$33.41. BCE has a 1 year low of C$29.66 and a 1 year high of C$36.25. The stock has a market cap of C$29.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$6.18 billion for the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 26.07% and a return on equity of 29.69%. Equities analysts predict that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Karine Moses sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.25, for a total transaction of C$116,375.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 3,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$123,424. This represents a 48.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Sean Cohan sold 3,645 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.48, for a total value of C$122,034.60. Insiders sold 11,255 shares of company stock valued at $376,464 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BCE Company Profile

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.