BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is C$38.50.

BCE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of BCE from C$33.00 to C$37.00 in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. National Bank Financial raised their price objective on shares of BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. TD Securities cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from C$41.00 to C$37.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Desjardins cut their target price on shares of BCE from C$41.50 to C$41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 8th.

Insider Activity

In other BCE news, insider Karine Moses sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.25, for a total value of C$116,375.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 3,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$123,424. This trade 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 transaction of C$122,034.60. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,255 shares of company stock valued at $376,465. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BCE Price Performance

BCE opened at C$34.78 on Monday. BCE has a one year low of C$29.20 and a one year high of C$36.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is C$33.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$33.62. The stock has a market capitalization of C$32.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.33.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C$0.63 EPS for the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 26.07% and a return on equity of 29.69%. The business had revenue of C$6.17 billion for the quarter. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BCE will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were issued a $0.4375 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.85%.

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.