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

Key Points

• Desjardins raised its price target on BCE from C$40.00 to C$42.00 and maintained a "buy" rating, implying roughly a 17.45% upside from the prior close.
• MarketBeat's consensus is a Moderate Buy (1 Strong Buy, 6 Buy, 2 Hold, 1 Sell) with an average target of C$37.70, signaling generally positive but mixed analyst sentiment.
• BCE traded at C$35.76, reported quarterly EPS of C$0.69 on C$6.40 billion revenue, has a market cap of C$33.35 billion and a low P/E of 5.27, indicating strong profitability metrics.

BCE (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE had its price target hoisted by analysts at Desjardins from C$40.00 to C$42.00 in a report released on Tuesday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Desjardins' price target points to a potential upside of 17.45% from the stock's previous close.

BCE has been the topic of a number of other reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded shares of BCE from a "neutral" rating to a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of BCE from C$33.00 to C$37.00 in a research report on Friday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised BCE from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a C$37.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. National Bank Financial increased 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 Friday, February 6th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on BCE from C$40.25 to C$39.50 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BCE currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of C$37.70.

BCE Price Performance

Shares of TSE:BCE traded up C$0.34 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching C$35.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,176,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,640,844. The business's fifty day simple moving average is C$34.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$33.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 179.16, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.43. BCE has a fifty-two week low of C$28.73 and a fifty-two week high of C$36.25. The company has a market capitalization of C$33.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.27, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.38.

BCE (TSE:BCE - Get Free Report) NYSE: BCE last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 6th. The company reported C$0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of C$6.40 billion for the quarter. BCE had a net margin of 26.40% and a return on equity of 31.99%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BCE will post 3.1120864 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

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