Brokerages Set BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) Target Price at C$37.85

Shares of BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is C$38.05.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on BCE shares. Desjardins reduced their price target on shares of BCE from C$41.00 to C$40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 6th. National Bank Financial lifted their price objective on BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Barclays upgraded BCE from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on BCE from C$33.00 to C$37.00 in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised BCE from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at C$35.21 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of C$33.45 and a 200-day moving average of C$33.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73. The firm has a market capitalization of C$32.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.47. BCE has a 12 month low of C$28.73 and a 12 month high of C$36.59.

BCE Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were paid a $0.4375 dividend. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 15th. BCE’s payout ratio is currently 34.02%.

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.