BCE (TSE:BCE) Given New C$39.50 Price Target at Scotiabank

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price target lowered by Scotiabank from C$40.25 to C$39.50 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,BayStreet.CA reports. Scotiabank currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

BCE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised BCE from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a C$37.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of BCE from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from C$35.00 to C$47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. TD Securities reduced their price target on shares of BCE from C$39.00 to C$38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of BCE from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$37.85.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE stock opened at C$34.25 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73. BCE has a 12-month low of C$28.73 and a 12-month high of C$36.59. The firm has a fifty day moving average of C$33.04 and a 200-day moving average of C$33.07. The firm has a market capitalization of C$31.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.47.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported C$0.79 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$6.05 billion for the quarter. BCE had a return on equity of 1.39% and a net margin of 1.10%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were paid a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. BCE’s payout ratio is presently 43.09%.

Key BCE News

Here are the key news stories impacting BCE this week:

• Positive Sentiment: National Bank raised its price target to C$39 and kept an “outperform” rating — a clear buy-side signal that implies meaningful upside from current levels. BayStreet.CA
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan lifted its target from C$33 to C$37, signaling improved conviction from a large institutional analyst. BayStreet.CA
• Positive Sentiment: Technical note — shares have crossed above their 200-day moving average, which traders view as a bullish technical development that can attract momentum buyers. AmericanBankingNews
• Neutral Sentiment: Scotiabank trimmed its target slightly to C$39.50 but maintained an “outperform” rating — still positive in absolute terms but a modest pullback from prior optimism. BayStreet.CA
• Neutral Sentiment: Desjardins cut its target to C$40 (from C$41) but left a “buy” call intact; another mixed signal that keeps multi-analyst upside intact despite small haircut. BayStreet.CA TickerReport
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage of BCE’s Q4 results and CEO comments emphasizes a focus on premium customers and revenue mix — strategically positive for ARPU but potentially limiting market-share gains if competitors cut prices. WTOP – Q4 Snapshot MSN – CEO comments
• Negative Sentiment: An opinion piece warns investors to wait for a specific trigger before buying BCE, which can sap near-term demand from cautious retail/institutional flows. MSN – Opinion

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.