BCE (TSE:BCE) Sets New 1-Year Low – Here’s What Happened

BCE Inc. (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE)’s share price reached a new 52-week low on Thursday . The stock traded as low as C$30.03 and last traded at C$30.15, with a volume of 4384668 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$30.55.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BCE has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank increased their target price on BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on BCE from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. TD Securities cut shares of BCE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from C$41.00 to C$37.00 in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Desjardins reduced 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. Finally, TD upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a C$37.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of C$38.33.

BCE Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of C$28.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.45, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of C$33.20 and a 200 day moving average price of C$33.75.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported C$0.63 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of C$6.17 billion during the quarter. BCE had a return on equity of 29.69% and a net margin of 26.07%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BCE Inc. will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BCE Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.4375 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $1.75 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.8%. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Thierry Chaumont sold 4,110 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.59, for a total transaction of C$138,054.90. Also, insider Sean Cohan sold 3,645 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$33.48, for a total transaction of C$122,034.60. Insiders sold 11,255 shares of company stock worth $376,464 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company 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.