BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Rating Upgraded by TD

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) was upgraded by TD from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage presently has a C$37.00 target price on the stock. TD’s target price suggests a potential upside of 23.17% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. TD Securities cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from C$41.00 to C$37.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Finally, Desjardins decreased their price objective on shares of BCE from C$41.50 to C$41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$38.33.

BCE Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of BCE stock traded down C$0.51 on Thursday, reaching C$30.04. 4,148,605 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,096,729. The stock has a market cap of C$28.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average of C$33.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$33.75. BCE has a 1-year low of C$30.03 and a 1-year high of C$36.25.

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

Insider Activity

In other BCE news, insider Sean Cohan sold 3,645 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.48, for a total value of C$122,034.60. Also, insider Thierry Chaumont sold 4,110 shares of the firm’s 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 11,255 shares of company stock worth $376,464. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.