BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target Raised to C$41.00

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price objective increased by Scotiabank from C$39.50 to C$41.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,BayStreet.CA reports. Scotiabank currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a C$37.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. National Bank Financial raised their price target on shares of BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of BCE from C$33.00 to C$37.00 in a research note on Friday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$37.70.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of BCE opened at C$35.35 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 179.16. The stock has a market capitalization of C$32.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is C$34.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$33.37. BCE has a 12 month low of C$28.73 and a 12 month high of C$36.25.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 6th. The company reported C$0.69 earnings per share for the quarter. BCE had a return on equity of 31.99% and a net margin of 26.40%.The firm had revenue of C$6.40 billion during the quarter. As a group, analysts predict that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. BCE’s payout ratio is 34.02%.

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.