BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is C$37.31.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of BCE from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from C$31.00 to C$35.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. TD raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a C$37.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Scotia raised their price objective on BCE from C$39.00 to C$40.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Desjardins lowered their price objective on BCE from C$43.50 to C$41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, TD Securities raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of TSE BCE opened at C$32.79 on Wednesday. BCE has a 1 year low of C$29.66 and a 1 year high of C$36.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.06, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of C$31.35 and a 200 day moving average of C$33.08. The stock has a market cap of C$30.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.37.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$0.65 earnings per share for the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 25.89% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The business had revenue of C$6.18 billion for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be given a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 15th. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 25.96%.

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.