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

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $42.10.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Argus lowered Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Comcast from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group set a $44.50 price objective on Comcast in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Monday, April 28th.

Comcast Price Performance

CMCSA stock opened at $34.66 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $129.41 billion, a PE ratio of 8.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.97. Comcast has a 1 year low of $31.44 and a 1 year high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The cable giant reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $29.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.82 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 2nd will be paid a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 32.43%.

Institutional Trading of Comcast

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Comcast by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 141,680,277 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,317,167,000 after buying an additional 11,255,683 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at $3,835,226,000. Dodge & Cox increased its holdings in Comcast by 19.1% in the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 94,217,741 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,476,635,000 after buying an additional 15,115,074 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Comcast by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 85,812,139 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,212,244,000 after buying an additional 1,006,272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Comcast by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 50,320,446 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,890,027,000 after buying an additional 5,402,377 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.