StockNews.com Upgrades Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) to “Strong-Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on CMCSA. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie decreased their price objective on Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Comcast currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.83.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of CMCSA stock opened at $35.39 on Thursday. Comcast has a 52 week low of $32.50 and a 52 week high of $45.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $133.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $36.37 and a 200-day moving average of $39.49.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Comcast will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 31.81%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comcast

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Brucke Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter worth approximately $325,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 427.8% during the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 245,568 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $9,216,000 after buying an additional 199,038 shares during the last quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Comcast by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 50,290 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,887,000 after purchasing an additional 4,664 shares during the period. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at $368,000. Finally, Sculati Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 30,792 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,156,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Company Profile

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.