Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Price Target Lowered to $55.00 at Benchmark

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) had its target price decreased by Benchmark from $57.00 to $55.00 in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the cable giant’s stock.

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Scotiabank upgraded Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI upgraded Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.00.

Comcast Stock Performance

CMCSA stock opened at $33.66 on Friday. Comcast has a twelve month low of $32.50 and a twelve month high of $47.11. The firm has a market cap of $128.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.05, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS 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%. Analysts predict that Comcast will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Comcast news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Comcast

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 55,334.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $345,565,000 after buying an additional 8,258,128 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Comcast by 5.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,904,647,000 after acquiring an additional 6,062,658 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Comcast by 530.5% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,429,298 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $143,242,000 after buying an additional 2,885,370 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Comcast by 211.7% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,890,571 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $120,739,000 after buying an additional 1,963,246 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of Comcast by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 7,613,977 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $318,036,000 after acquiring an additional 1,833,453 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.