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 research report issued on Tuesday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage presently has a C$35.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of C$31.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 15.06% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on BCE. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on BCE from C$39.00 to C$36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. TD raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a C$37.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. TD Securities raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of 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, Raymond James Financial set a C$37.00 target price on BCE and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$37.29.

BCE Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of BCE traded down C$0.15 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching C$30.42. The stock had a trading volume of 1,863,088 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,099,505. The company has a market cap of C$28.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.49, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is C$32.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$33.62. BCE has a 1-year low of C$29.66 and a 1-year high of C$36.25.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BCE news, Director Louis Vachon purchased 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of C$33.39 per share, with a total value of C$500,850.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 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 completion of the sale, the insider 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,255 shares of company stock valued at $376,464. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.