Sean Cohan Sells 3,645 Shares of BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) insider Sean Cohan sold 3,645 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.48, for a total transaction of C$122,034.60.

BCE Stock Performance

BCE traded down C$0.48 during trading on Friday, hitting C$32.72. The stock had a trading volume of 4,919,192 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,713,109. The firm has a market cap of C$30.51 billion, a PE ratio of 4.83, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90. BCE Inc. has a 12 month low of C$29.17 and a 12 month high of C$36.25. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$33.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$33.51.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C$0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$6.17 billion during the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 26.07% and a return on equity of 29.69%. Analysts expect that BCE Inc. 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, April 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.3%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BCE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Securities downgraded BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from C$41.00 to C$37.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Desjardins dropped their target price on shares of BCE from C$41.50 to C$41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, National Bank Financial increased their price target on shares of BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$37.78.

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.