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

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) had its price objective lowered by Benchmark from $57.00 to $55.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Benchmark currently has a buy rating on the cable giant’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on CMCSA. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. BNP Paribas upgraded Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday. Seaport Res Ptn raised Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Comcast presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.00.

Comcast Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $33.66 on Friday. Comcast has a 1 year low of $32.50 and a 1 year high of $47.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $38.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.07. The company has a market cap of $128.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.05, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Comcast will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

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 of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.33%.

Insider Transactions 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 shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $284,539,128.48. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its position in Comcast by 55,334.5% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $345,565,000 after purchasing an additional 8,258,128 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Comcast by 5.4% during the 3rd 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. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Comcast by 530.5% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,429,298 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $143,242,000 after buying an additional 2,885,370 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $120,739,000 after buying an additional 1,963,246 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in Comcast by 31.7% during the third 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

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.