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

StockNews.com cut shares of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Saturday.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on CMCSA. Scotiabank raised shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp increased their target price on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.33.

Comcast Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $37.49 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $41.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.30. Comcast has a 52-week low of $36.43 and a 52-week high of $47.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $143.46 billion, a PE ratio of 10.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.01.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The business had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Comcast will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. 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 business’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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value 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. This represents 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 owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Comcast during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Comcast in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in Comcast by 365.4% during the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Comcast in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 220.3% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 759 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 522 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.