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

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

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on CMCSA. Scotiabank raised shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Comcast from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI raised Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.06.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $37.40 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $42.09 and its 200 day moving average is $40.30. Comcast has a 52-week low of $36.43 and a 52-week high of $47.11. The firm has a market cap of $143.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.05, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

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

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. Comcast’s payout ratio is 33.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,779,218.91. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their position. 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 Comcast stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Comcast

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $4,904,647,000 after purchasing an additional 6,062,658 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Comcast by 2.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 38,329,384 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,500,722,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,626 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Comcast by 1.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,871,235 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,331,192,000 after purchasing an additional 416,759 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Comcast by 6.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 30,364,136 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,268,310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,717,762 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its position in Comcast by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 15,983,230 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $667,620,000 after purchasing an additional 822,936 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.