The Goldman Sachs Group Lowers Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Price Target to $44.00

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) had its price objective cut by The Goldman Sachs Group from $50.00 to $44.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the cable giant’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on CMCSA. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Monday, January 6th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank raised shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Comcast from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

Comcast Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $33.66 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $128.80 billion, a PE ratio of 9.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. 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 twelve month low of $32.50 and a twelve month high of $47.11. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.07.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. On average, equities analysts predict that Comcast will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is 33.33%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $284,539,128.48. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the president now owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Comcast

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in 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 period. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in 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 period. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its position in Comcast by 3.7% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,920,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $80,232,000 after buying an additional 68,139 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its position in Comcast by 0.7% in the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $92,331,000 after buying an additional 15,807 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Comcast in the third quarter worth $2,541,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.