BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Crosses Above 200-Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE)’s share price passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$33.27 and traded as high as C$36.02. BCE shares last traded at C$35.69, with a volume of 2,910,929 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BCE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of BCE from C$33.00 to C$37.00 in a research note on Friday, February 6th. TD Securities raised their price objective on BCE from C$38.00 to C$40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Barclays upgraded BCE from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Desjardins dropped their price target on BCE from C$41.00 to C$40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$38.05.

BCE Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.62. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is C$33.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$33.27. The firm has a market capitalization of C$33.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.26, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.47.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.