BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts have given BCE a consensus recommendation of Moderate Buy from 10 brokerages (1 sell, 2 hold, 6 buy, 1 strong buy), with an average 12‑month price target of C$38.05.
• Several firms recently raised ratings/targets — notably TD Securities to a C$40 objective and National Bank Financial to C$39, while BMO upgraded BCE to "outperform," reflecting analyst optimism.
• BCE pays a quarterly dividend that annualizes to C$1.75 for a 4.9% dividend yield with a ~34% payout ratio, and trades at a low valuation (P/E 5.28) but carries a high debt-to-equity of 179.16.

Shares of BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$38.05.

A number of brokerages have commented on BCE. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of BCE from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a C$37.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Barclays upgraded shares of BCE from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. National Bank Financial lifted their price target on BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on BCE from C$38.00 to C$40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Desjardins decreased their price objective on BCE from C$41.00 to C$40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 6th.

BCE Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of BCE opened at C$35.88 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 179.16, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of C$33.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.38. BCE has a 1 year low of C$28.73 and a 1 year high of C$36.42. The business's 50 day simple moving average is C$34.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$33.32.

BCE (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE last posted its earnings results on Friday, March 6th. The company reported C$0.69 earnings per share for the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 31.99%. As a group, equities analysts expect that BCE will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. BCE's payout ratio is currently 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.

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