Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Arete dropped their target price on Comcast from $39.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Bank of America cut their target price on Comcast from $38.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 31st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.29.

Comcast Trading Up 1.6%

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $27.89 on Monday. Comcast has a one year low of $25.75 and a one year high of $44.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $101.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.96.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 13th. The cable giant reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $30.34 billion during the quarter. Comcast had a net margin of 18.33% and a return on equity of 18.06%. Equities analysts forecast that Comcast will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 14th will be paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 14th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.96%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Comcast by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 724,760 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $25,867,000 after acquiring an additional 83,631 shares in the last quarter. Advisor OS LLC increased its stake in Comcast by 33.2% during the first quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 35,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,308,000 after purchasing an additional 8,841 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 5.4% during the second quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 2,889,947 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $103,142,000 after purchasing an additional 147,231 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 20.0% in the second quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 82,089 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,928,000 after purchasing an additional 13,653 shares during the period. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 10.2% in the first quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,282,073 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $47,254,000 after purchasing an additional 118,839 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is 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.