BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target Cut to C$33.00 by Analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price objective reduced by Canaccord Genuity Group from C$35.00 to C$33.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have a hold rating on the stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. 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. TD Securities upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Scotiabank decreased their price target on BCE from C$41.00 to C$39.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. 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 report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of BCE from C$39.00 to C$36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$37.30.

BCE Stock Performance

BCE stock traded up C$0.07 on Friday, hitting C$30.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,666,311 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,103,499. BCE has a 1 year low of C$29.66 and a 1 year high of C$36.25. 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 stock has a market cap of C$28.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average of C$32.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$33.65.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C$0.63 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$6.17 billion during the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 26.07% and a return on equity of 29.69%. Equities analysts predict that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be paid a $0.4375 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.8%. BCE’s payout ratio is 25.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BCE news, Director Louis Vachon bought 15,000 shares of BCE stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of C$33.39 per share, with a total value of C$500,850.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 75,000 shares in the company, valued at C$2,504,250. The trade was a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Sean Cohan sold 3,645 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.48, for a total transaction of C$122,034.60. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,255 shares of company stock worth $376,464. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.