Benchmark Cuts Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Price Target to $55.00

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) had its price target cut by Benchmark from $57.00 to $55.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the cable giant’s stock.

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Bank of America cut shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI upgraded Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, November 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Comcast currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.00.

Comcast Trading Up 1.2 %

Comcast stock opened at $33.66 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $128.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.05, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. Comcast has a 52 week low of $32.50 and a 52 week high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. Analysts expect that Comcast will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.81%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Comcast

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 269.9% during the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Comcast in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Comcast by 365.4% during the 3rd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.