Brokerages Set BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Price Target at C$37.30

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is C$37.50.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BCE. Scotiabank lowered their price target on BCE from C$41.00 to C$39.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. TD Securities raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on BCE from C$39.00 to C$36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Desjardins set a C$43.50 target price on BCE and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, TD raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a C$37.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 2nd.

BCE Stock Up 2.6%

BCE stock opened at C$31.13 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of C$29.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.60, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.29. BCE has a 52 week low of C$29.66 and a 52 week high of C$36.25. The company’s 50-day moving average price is C$32.69 and its 200 day moving average price is C$33.64. 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 earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C$0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 26.07% and a return on equity of 29.69%. The company had revenue of C$6.17 billion during the quarter. On average, research analysts expect that BCE will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th were given a $0.4375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 25.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BCE

In related news, insider Thierry Chaumont sold 4,110 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.59, for a total value of C$138,054.90. Also, insider Sean Cohan sold 3,645 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.48, for a total transaction of C$122,034.60. Insiders have sold 11,255 shares of company stock valued at $376,464 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.