BCE (TSE:BCE) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Desjardins Analyst Says

Key Points

• Desjardins has raised its target price for BCE from C$40.50 to C$41.00, suggesting a potential upside of 25% from the previous close and maintaining a "buy" rating on the stock.
• Other analysts have given mixed ratings, with Scotiabank raising its target to C$41.50 while BMO Capital Markets lowered it to C$35.00, leading to a consensus rating of "Hold" and a target of C$34.92.
• BCE's shares recently rose by 1.1% to C$32.80, with a market capitalization of C$30.24 billion and a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73.

BCE (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE had its target price lifted by research analysts at Desjardins from C$40.50 to C$41.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Desjardins' price target indicates a potential upside of 25.00% from the stock's previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on BCE. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of BCE from C$39.50 to C$41.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of BCE from C$51.00 to C$35.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. National Bankshares set a C$35.00 target price on shares of BCE and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of BCE from C$33.00 to C$35.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts cut shares of BCE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of C$34.92.

BCE Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of TSE BCE traded up C$0.36 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting C$32.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,538,449 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,658,568. The business's fifty day simple moving average is C$33.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$31.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 226.73, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.43. BCE has a 1 year low of C$28.73 and a 1 year high of C$46.62. The firm has a market capitalization of C$30.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.57.

About BCE

BCE is both a wireless and internet service provider, offering wireless, broadband, television, and landline phone services in Canada. It is one of the big three national wireless carriers, with its roughly 10 million customers constituting about 30% of the market. It is also the ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrierthe legacy telephone provider) throughout much of the eastern half of Canada, including in the most populous Canadian provincesOntario and Quebec.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.