BCE (TSE:BCE) Given New C$36.50 Price Target at Scotiabank

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price target reduced by stock analysts at Scotiabank from C$40.00 to C$36.50 in a research report issued on Tuesday, BayStreet reports. The firm presently has a “sector outperform” rating on the stock. Scotiabank’s target price indicates a potential upside of 29.75% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on BCE. TD raised their price target on BCE from C$37.00 to C$40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce lowered their price objective on BCE from C$39.00 to C$38.00 and set an “outperformer” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upgraded BCE from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from C$31.00 to C$35.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a C$32.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, TD Securities upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$37.12.

BCE Stock Performance

BCE stock traded up C$0.13 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching C$28.13. The company had a trading volume of 1,801,889 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,299,189. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of C$30.84 and a 200 day moving average price of C$31.85. BCE has a fifty-two week low of C$26.66 and a fifty-two week high of C$36.25. The firm has a market capitalization of C$26.23 billion, a PE ratio of 4.17, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.37.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$0.65 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$6.18 billion during the quarter. BCE had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 25.89%. Analysts anticipate that BCE will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at BCE

In other news, Director Louis Vachon bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of C$30.63 per share, for a total transaction of C$306,300.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 100,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$3,063,000. This trade represents a 11.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. 0.02% of the stock is owned by 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.