BCE (TSE:BCE) Raised to Buy at TD

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) was upgraded by equities researchers at TD from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has a C$37.00 price objective on the stock. TD’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 23.17% from the company’s current price.

BCE has been the topic of several other research reports. Scotiabank upped their target price on BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Desjardins lowered their price objective on shares of BCE from C$41.50 to C$41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, TD Securities downgraded shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from C$41.00 to C$37.00 in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BCE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$38.33.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE traded down C$0.51 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching C$30.04. The company had a trading volume of 4,148,605 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,096,729. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of C$33.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$33.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90. The company has a market capitalization of C$28.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.44, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.24. BCE has a 12-month low of C$30.03 and a 12-month 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 (EPS) for the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 26.07% and a return on equity of 29.69%. The company had revenue of C$6.17 billion during the quarter. Research analysts expect that BCE will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other BCE news, insider Thierry Chaumont sold 4,110 shares of BCE stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.59, for a total value of C$138,054.90. Also, insider Karine Moses sold 3,500 shares of BCE stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.25, for a total transaction of C$116,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 3,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$123,424. The trade was a 48.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Insiders have sold a total of 11,255 shares of company stock worth $376,464 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.