Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the seventeen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $47.19.
A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Macquarie boosted their price objective on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com cut shares of Comcast from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Comcast
Comcast Price Performance
Shares of CMCSA traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $39.71. The stock had a trading volume of 23,908,977 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,634,055. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company's fifty day moving average is $42.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.32. Comcast has a 52 week low of $36.43 and a 52 week high of $47.11.
Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Comcast will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.
Comcast Announces Dividend
The business 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 $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.33%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Comcast news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were 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 directly owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comcast
A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 6,062,658 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Comcast by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 38,329,384 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $1,500,722,000 after buying an additional 1,000,626 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,331,192,000 after acquiring an additional 416,759 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $1,268,310,000 after acquiring an additional 1,717,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its position in Comcast by 5.4% during the third quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 15,983,230 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $667,620,000 after acquiring an additional 822,936 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company's stock.
About Comcast
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Get Free ReportComcast 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.
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