BCE (TSE:BCE) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at TD Securities

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) was upgraded by investment analysts at TD Securities from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

BCE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Desjardins lowered their price target on BCE from C$41.50 to C$41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, TD upgraded BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a C$37.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of C$38.33.

BCE Stock Down 0.6%

BCE stock opened at C$30.37 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of C$28.32 billion, a PE ratio of 4.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.24. BCE has a 52 week low of C$30.03 and a 52 week high of C$36.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average of C$33.15 and a 200 day moving average of C$33.74.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C$0.63 earnings per share (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 during the quarter. Sell-side analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BCE news, insider Karine Moses sold 3,500 shares of BCE stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.25, for a total transaction of C$116,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 3,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$123,424. This trade represents a 48.53% decrease in their position. Also, insider Sean Cohan sold 3,645 shares of BCE stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.48, for a total value of C$122,034.60. Insiders sold a total of 11,255 shares of company stock valued at $376,464 over the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.