BCE (TSE:BCE) Given a C$37.00 Price Target at Raymond James Financial

Raymond James Financial set a C$37.00 price target on BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) in a report released on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of BCE from C$35.00 to C$33.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of BCE from C$41.00 to C$39.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. TD upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a C$37.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Desjardins set a C$43.50 target price on shares of BCE and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, TD Securities upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$37.50.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of BCE opened at C$31.13 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.66. BCE has a fifty-two week low of C$29.66 and a fifty-two week high of C$36.25. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of C$32.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$33.64. The company has a market capitalization of C$29.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.29.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C$0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$6.17 billion for the quarter. BCE had a return on equity of 29.69% and a net margin of 26.07%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BCE will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.85%.

Insider Activity at BCE

In other BCE news, insider Karine Moses sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.25, for a total value of C$116,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 3,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$123,424. This trade represents a 48.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Thierry Chaumont sold 4,110 shares of BCE stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.59, for a total transaction of C$138,054.90. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 11,255 shares of company stock valued at $376,464. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.