Morgan Stanley Cuts Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Price Target to $38.00

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) had its price objective lowered by Morgan Stanley from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the cable giant’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on CMCSA. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank upgraded Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

Comcast Trading Up 1.2 %

CMCSA opened at $33.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. Comcast has a 1-year low of $32.50 and a 1-year high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.33 dividend. 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%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 31.81%.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 55,334.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $345,565,000 after purchasing an additional 8,258,128 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Comcast by 5.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,904,647,000 after purchasing an additional 6,062,658 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in Comcast by 530.5% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,429,298 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $143,242,000 after buying an additional 2,885,370 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Comcast by 211.7% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,890,571 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $120,739,000 after buying an additional 1,963,246 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Comcast by 31.7% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 7,613,977 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $318,036,000 after buying an additional 1,833,453 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.