BCE (TSE:BCE) Share Price Passes Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Here’s What Happened

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) shares crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$33.72 and traded as high as C$34.46. BCE shares last traded at C$34.25, with a volume of 5,505,675 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BCE shares. Desjardins reduced their price objective on BCE from C$41.50 to C$41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 8th. TD Securities cut BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from C$41.00 to C$37.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BCE has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$38.50.

BCE Stock Up 1.4%

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of C$33.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$33.72. The company has a market cap of C$31.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.06, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90.

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

BCE Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 25.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BCE news, Director Louis Vachon acquired 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of C$33.39 per share, with a total value of C$500,850.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 75,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$2,504,250. This trade represents a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Thierry Chaumont sold 4,110 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.59, for a total value of C$138,054.90. Insiders sold a total of 11,255 shares of company stock worth $376,465 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.