Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report released on Wednesday.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Macquarie boosted their price objective on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen cut their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.19.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of CMCSA opened at $43.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $165.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.60, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $42.45 and a 200-day moving average of $40.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Comcast has a 52 week low of $36.43 and a 52 week high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The business’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Comcast will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is 33.33%.

Insider Activity

In other Comcast news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the transaction, the president now owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at $22,779,218.91. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $284,539,128.48. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CMCSA. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 2.2% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 154,036 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $6,434,000 after buying an additional 3,323 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 15.2% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 171,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $7,161,000 after buying an additional 22,684 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 55,334.5% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $345,565,000 after buying an additional 8,258,128 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 904.0% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $10,632,000 after buying an additional 229,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 0.6% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 763,784 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $33,202,000 after buying an additional 4,691 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

About Comcast

Comcast Corporation operates as a media and technology company worldwide. It operates through Residential Connectivity & Platforms, Business Services Connectivity, Media, Studios, and Theme Parks segments. The Residential Connectivity & Platforms segment provides residential broadband and wireless connectivity services, residential and business video services, sky-branded entertainment television networks, and advertising.