BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on BCE, with eight buy ratings, four holds, and one strong-buy rating. The average 12-month price target is C$37.31, compared with the stock’s recent price of C$32.51.
• BCE reported quarterly EPS of C$0.65 on revenue of C$6.18 billion, while analysts forecast full-year EPS of approximately C$3.11.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4375 per share, or $1.75 annualized, representing a 5.4% dividend yield.

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE has earned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the thirteen research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$37.31.

BCE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised shares of BCE from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from C$31.00 to C$35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. TD raised shares of BCE from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a C$37.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. TD Securities upgraded shares of BCE from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of BCE from C$39.00 to C$36.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a C$37.00 target price on shares of BCE and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th.

BCE Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of TSE:BCE opened at C$32.51 on Wednesday. BCE has a 52-week low of C$29.66 and a 52-week high of C$36.25. The stock has a market cap of C$30.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.82, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.06. The business has a 50-day moving average price of C$31.36 and a 200-day moving average price of C$33.13.

BCE (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$0.65 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$6.18 billion during the quarter. BCE had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 25.89%. Equities analysts predict that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.4%. BCE's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

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