BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Stock Has Average Price Target of C$37.12 According to Analysts

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is C$37.12.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BCE shares. TD Securities raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a C$32.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of BCE from C$40.00 to C$36.50 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 20th. National Bank Financial reduced their price objective on shares of BCE from C$38.00 to C$36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of BCE from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from C$31.00 to C$35.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 21st.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at C$28.43 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of C$26.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.22, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.37. BCE has a 12 month low of C$26.66 and a 12 month high of C$36.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of C$30.52 and a 200 day moving average price of C$32.64.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last released its earnings results 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 25.89% and a return on equity of 27.73%. Research analysts expect that BCE will post 3.11 EPS for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 15th were given a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.96%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Louis Vachon acquired 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 18th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of C$30.63 per share, with a total value of C$306,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$3,063,000. This trade represents a 11.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. 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.