Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Lifted to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on CMCSA. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Comcast in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. They issued a buy rating and a $44.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Comcast from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Macquarie restated a neutral rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $45.78.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $39.61 on Wednesday. Comcast has a 1-year low of $36.43 and a 1-year high of $47.11. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.85. The firm has a market cap of $155.41 billion, a PE ratio of 10.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $29.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.02 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.17% and a net margin of 12.46%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Comcast will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is 32.80%.

Institutional Trading of Comcast

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Comcast by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 60,650 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $2,659,000 after buying an additional 2,781 shares during the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Comcast in the fourth quarter worth $2,056,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Comcast by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 11,304,304 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $495,694,000 after purchasing an additional 368,685 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 4.5% during the second quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,027 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,550 shares during the period. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 191,846 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $7,513,000 after buying an additional 15,664 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.