BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target Cut to C$41.00 by Analysts at Desjardins

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price objective lowered by Desjardins from C$41.50 to C$41.00 in a report released on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays raised BCE from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. TD Securities lowered shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from C$41.00 to C$37.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. National Bank Financial boosted their price target on shares of BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BCE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$37.78.

BCE Stock Performance

BCE opened at C$33.09 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of C$30.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.87, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.33. The company’s fifty day moving average price is C$34.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$33.52. BCE has a 1-year low of C$29.17 and a 1-year high of C$36.25.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C$0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 31.99%. The firm had revenue of C$6.17 billion for the quarter. On average, analysts expect 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 Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were given a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.02%.

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.