Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Earns Neutral Rating from Macquarie

Macquarie reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $40.00 price target on the cable giant’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on CMCSA. Pivotal Research lowered their price objective on shares of Comcast from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com lowered Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.63.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $43.56 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.58. Comcast has a 52 week low of $36.43 and a 52 week high of $47.11. The company has a market cap of $168.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, 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, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 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 company had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Comcast will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comcast

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Comcast by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 115,703,280 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,015,737,000 after acquiring an additional 7,929,963 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Comcast by 41.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,016,389 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,214,512,000 after purchasing an additional 8,243,302 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its position in Comcast by 25,881.7% in the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 10,850,995 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $470,391,000 after buying an additional 10,809,231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Pacific Advisors LP increased its stake in Comcast by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP now owns 10,818,009 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $423,633,000 after buying an additional 219,894 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is owned by 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.