Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the twenty-one brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and eleven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $48.83.

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Monday, May 13th. BNP Paribas cut Comcast from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, June 11th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $55.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Corp Comcast sold 3,176,923 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.19, for a total value of $10,134,384.37. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,380,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comcast

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 115,703,280 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,015,737,000 after purchasing an additional 7,929,963 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at $2,542,988,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Comcast by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 46,019,891 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $2,040,522,000 after purchasing an additional 141,874 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Comcast by 41.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,016,389 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,214,512,000 after purchasing an additional 8,243,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harris Associates L P increased its position in Comcast by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 18,873,787 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $827,616,000 after acquiring an additional 1,854,671 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

CMCSA stock opened at $36.90 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $144.78 billion, a PE ratio of 9.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $38.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.61. Comcast has a 12-month low of $36.43 and a 12-month high of $47.46.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The cable giant reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $30.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.83 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 12.64%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Comcast will post 4.21 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.80%.

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.