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

StockNews.com lowered shares of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Thursday morning.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Comcast from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Macquarie upped their target price on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.06.

Comcast Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $38.22 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $146.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.27, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.99. Comcast has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $42.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.30.

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

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s payout ratio is 33.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comcast

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in Comcast during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $157,000. LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in Comcast by 27.9% in the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 10,781 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $422,000 after purchasing an additional 2,354 shares during the last quarter. Waterway Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Comcast by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter. Waterway Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,875 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $426,000 after purchasing an additional 1,124 shares in the last quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Comcast by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 10,216 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $400,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fullcircle Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast during the second quarter worth $1,679,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

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.