Macquarie Cuts Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Price Target to $36.00

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) had its price objective cut by Macquarie from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the cable giant’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on CMCSA. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.00.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $33.66 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $38.61 and a 200-day moving average of $40.07. The stock has a market cap of $128.80 billion, a PE ratio of 9.05, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 fifty-two week low of $32.50 and a fifty-two week high of $47.11.

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

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 31.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Comcast news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was 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 owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares in the company, 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comcast

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 77.2% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 14,182 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $555,000 after buying an additional 6,179 shares during the last quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. lifted its position in Comcast by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 14,581 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $609,000 after acquiring an additional 645 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in Comcast by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 832,594 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $34,810,000 after purchasing an additional 132,442 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 786,946 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $32,871,000 after purchasing an additional 41,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 211.7% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,890,571 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $120,739,000 after purchasing an additional 1,963,246 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

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.