Morgan Stanley Upgrades BCE (TSE:BCE) to “Equal Weight”

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) was upgraded by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report released on Tuesday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has a C$35.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of C$31.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 15.89% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on BCE. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of BCE from C$39.00 to C$36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial set a C$37.00 price target on shares of BCE and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on BCE from C$35.00 to C$33.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on BCE from C$41.00 to C$39.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Desjardins set a C$43.50 price objective on BCE and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BCE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$37.29.

BCE Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of BCE stock opened at C$30.20 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average of C$32.47 and a 200-day moving average of C$33.59. 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$28.16 billion, a PE ratio of 4.46, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.29.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C$0.63 EPS for the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 26.07% and a return on equity of 29.69%. The business had revenue of C$6.17 billion for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Karine Moses sold 3,500 shares of BCE stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 3,712 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$123,424. This trade represents a 48.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Sean Cohan sold 3,645 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.48, for a total transaction of C$122,034.60. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,255 shares of company stock valued at $376,464. 0.02% of the stock is owned by 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.