Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in a report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $44.00 price target on the cable giant’s stock.

CMCSA has been the topic of several other reports. Benchmark reiterated a buy rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Monday, May 13th. StockNews.com cut Comcast from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer restated an outperform rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a neutral rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $55.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $48.62.

Comcast Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $38.40 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Comcast has a 12-month low of $36.43 and a 12-month high of $47.46. The business has a 50 day moving average of $38.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.46. The company has a market capitalization of $150.67 billion, a PE ratio of 10.16, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 3rd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.80%.

Insider Activity

In other Comcast news, major shareholder Corp Comcast sold 3,176,923 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $6,380,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Paralel Advisors LLC increased its position in Comcast by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Paralel Advisors LLC now owns 50,446 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,237,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 26.2% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 29,410 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,304,000 after purchasing an additional 6,097 shares during the period. Westover Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast during the third quarter worth approximately $358,000. Trexquant Investment LP lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 422.0% during the third quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 200,356 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $8,884,000 after purchasing an additional 161,975 shares during the period. Finally, Trustmark National Bank Trust Department grew its position in Comcast by 75.4% in the 3rd quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 32,680 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,449,000 after buying an additional 14,052 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.