Desjardins Lowers BCE (TSE:BCE) Price Target to C$41.00

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) had its price target cut by Desjardins from C$43.50 to C$41.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,BayStreet.CA reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Desjardins’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 29.66% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on BCE. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on BCE from C$35.00 to C$33.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. TD Securities raised shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of BCE from C$39.00 to C$36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of BCE from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from C$31.00 to C$35.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, TD raised BCE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a C$37.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. 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, BCE currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$37.31.

BCE Stock Down 0.8%

TSE BCE traded down C$0.25 on Friday, reaching C$31.62. The company had a trading volume of 1,369,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,197,726. The firm has a market capitalization of C$29.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 183.90, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.66. BCE has a 1-year low of C$29.66 and a 1-year high of C$36.25. The company’s fifty day moving average is C$31.81 and its 200-day moving average is C$33.41.

BCE (TSE:BCE) (NYSE:BCE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported C$0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$6.18 billion for the quarter. BCE had a return on equity of 29.69% and a net margin of 26.07%. On average, research analysts forecast that BCE will post 3.1120864 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Thierry Chaumont sold 4,110 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$33.59, for a total value of C$138,054.90. Also, Director Louis Vachon purchased 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of C$33.39 per share, for a total transaction of C$500,850.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 75,000 shares in the company, valued at C$2,504,250. This trade represents a 25.00% increase in their position. In the last three months, insiders sold 11,255 shares of company stock valued at $376,464. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.