Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $46.75.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Comcast from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comcast

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,027 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,550 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank lifted its stake 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 valued at $7,513,000 after acquiring an additional 15,664 shares during the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its position in Comcast by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $92,331,000 after acquiring an additional 15,807 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake in Comcast by 3,816.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 558,382 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $21,866,000 after purchasing an additional 544,123 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Comcast in the first quarter worth approximately $773,000. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

CMCSA opened at $42.88 on Friday. Comcast has a fifty-two week low of $36.43 and a fifty-two week high of $47.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $41.54 and a 200 day moving average of $39.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $164.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.53, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Comcast will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s payout ratio is 33.33%.

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.