BCE (TSE:BCE) Director Acquires C$306,300.00 in Stock

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) Director Louis Vachon acquired 10,000 shares of BCE stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of C$30.63 per share, for a total transaction of C$306,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$3,063,000. This trade represents a 11.11% increase in their position.

BCE Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of TSE BCE opened at C$30.53 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.06. BCE Inc. has a 12 month low of C$29.66 and a 12 month high of C$36.25. The firm has a market capitalization of C$28.47 billion, a PE ratio of 4.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.37. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of C$31.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$32.73.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 25.89% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The company had revenue of C$6.18 billion for the quarter. Equities analysts expect that BCE Inc. will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.7%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is 25.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Securities upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley raised BCE from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from C$31.00 to C$35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on BCE from C$41.00 to C$39.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Scotia raised their price objective on BCE from C$39.00 to C$40.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of BCE from C$39.00 to C$36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BCE has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$37.69.

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.