BCE (TSE:BCE) Given New C$40.25 Price Target at Scotiabank

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price target decreased by Scotiabank from C$40.75 to C$40.25 in a research report released on Tuesday,BayStreet.CA reports. Scotiabank currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. CIBC upgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Cibc Captl Mkts upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Desjardins dropped their price target on shares of BCE from C$42.00 to C$41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 12th. TD Securities dropped their price target on BCE from C$39.00 to C$38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a C$37.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BCE has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$36.20.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at C$33.74 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of C$31.46 billion, a PE ratio of 5.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73. BCE has a 12 month low of C$28.73 and a 12 month high of C$36.59. The business’s 50-day moving average price is C$32.43 and its 200-day moving average price is C$32.89.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported C$0.79 EPS for the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 1.10% and a return on equity of 1.39%. The firm had revenue of C$6.05 billion during the quarter. Sell-side analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were issued a $0.4375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.2%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is 43.09%.

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.