Raymond James Financial Analysts Give BCE (TSE:BCE) a C$37.00 Price Target

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

BCE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. TD upgraded 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 price target on BCE and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their price objective on BCE from C$35.00 to C$33.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. TD Securities upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$37.50.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at C$30.62 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.43. BCE has a 1 year low of C$29.66 and a 1 year high of C$36.25. The firm has a 50-day moving average of C$32.64 and a 200 day moving average of C$33.62. The company has a market cap of C$28.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.52, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.29.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of C$6.17 billion for the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current year.

BCE Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th were paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.7%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BCE

In related news, insider Karine Moses sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.25, for a total value of C$116,375.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 3,712 shares in the company, valued at C$123,424. This represents a 48.53% decrease in their position. Also, insider Sean Cohan sold 3,645 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.48, for a total value of C$122,034.60. Insiders have sold a total of 11,255 shares of company stock valued at $376,464 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.