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

Key Points

• Nine analysts give BCE an average recommendation of Moderate Buy (3 holds, 5 buys, 1 strong buy) with an average 12‑month price target of C$37.25.
• Shares opened at C$31.82 and trade at a low valuation (P/E ~4.7) with a market cap of C$29.7B; BCE pays a quarterly dividend that annualizes to $1.75 for a 5.5% yield (DPR ~34%).
• Recent analyst activity is mixed: National Bank, RBC, JPMorgan and Scotiabank raised price targets (Scotiabank up to C$41.00), while TD Securities downgraded BCE to a hold and cut its target to C$37.00.

Shares of BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nine research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$37.25.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on BCE shares. National Bank Financial raised their price target on BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. TD Securities downgraded BCE from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price target for the company from C$41.00 to C$37.00 in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on BCE from C$33.00 to C$37.00 in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th.

BCE Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of BCE stock opened at C$31.82 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of C$34.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$33.53. BCE has a 1 year low of C$29.10 and a 1 year high of C$36.25. The company has a market capitalization of C$29.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.69, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 179.16, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

BCE (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 6th. The company reported C$0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. BCE had a return on equity of 31.99% and a net margin of 26.40%.The business had revenue of C$6.40 billion during the quarter. Research analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.5%. BCE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.02%.

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.

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