JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Price Target to $39.00

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) had its price target decreased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $45.00 to $39.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the cable giant’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on CMCSA. Benchmark reduced their price objective on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday. Bank of America cut shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Pivotal Research raised their price target on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.00.

Comcast Stock Up 1.2 %

CMCSA opened at $33.66 on Friday. Comcast has a 1 year low of $32.50 and a 1 year high of $47.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $38.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.07. 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 company 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.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. Sell-side analysts expect that Comcast will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 31.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Comcast

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