Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Issues Earnings Results

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08, Zacks reports. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%.

Comcast Trading Up 1.2 %

Comcast stock opened at $33.66 on Friday. Comcast has a 12 month low of $32.50 and a 12 month high of $47.11. The stock has a market cap of $128.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $38.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $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 Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Nine 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.00.

Insider Activity at Comcast

In related news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the business’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 sale, the president now owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,779,218.91. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of Comcast 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % 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 corporate insiders.

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.