Desjardins Increases BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target to C$43.00

Key Points

• Desjardins raised its price target for BCE from C$41 to C$43 and maintained a “buy” rating, implying 37.12% upside from the previous close.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: BCE has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average target price of C$37.69, supported by recent upgrades from TD Securities and Scotia.
• BCE shares traded at C$31.36, while the company reported quarterly earnings of C$0.65 per share and revenue of C$6.18 billion. The stock has traded between C$29.66 and C$36.25 over the past year.

BCE (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE had its target price lifted by equities research analysts at Desjardins from C$41.00 to C$43.00 in a report released on Thursday, BayStreet reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Desjardins' target price suggests a potential upside of 37.12% from the company's previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on BCE. Scotia lifted their target price on BCE from C$39.00 to C$40.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. TD Securities raised shares of BCE from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley raised shares of BCE from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from C$31.00 to C$35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. TD upped their target price on BCE from C$37.00 to C$40.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on BCE from C$41.00 to C$39.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of C$37.69.

BCE Stock Performance

Shares of TSE BCE traded down C$0.17 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting C$31.36. 2,669,783 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,118,697. The firm has a market capitalization of C$29.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.65, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.37. BCE has a one year low of C$29.66 and a one year high of C$36.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 175.06, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average of C$31.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of C$32.91.

BCE (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$0.65 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$6.18 billion for the quarter. BCE had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 25.89%. On average, equities analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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