Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the twenty-nine ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seventeen have assigned a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $34.9018.

CMCSA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Daiwa Securities Group decreased their target price on shares of Comcast from $38.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. BNP Paribas Exane restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Comcast in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 target price (up from $32.79) on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research lowered Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th.

Comcast Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of CMCSA stock opened at $31.37 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $28.79 and a 200 day moving average of $30.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Comcast has a 1-year low of $25.75 and a 1-year high of $37.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.31 billion, a PE ratio of 5.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.81.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The cable giant reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $32.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.35 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 16.17%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.96 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Comcast will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Comcast

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 39.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,055,192 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $37,954,000 after acquiring an additional 300,898 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 369,438,921 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $13,185,275,000 after purchasing an additional 1,257,196 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Comcast by 20.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Comcast by 9.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,536,937 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $236,810,000 after purchasing an additional 665,635 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Comcast by 75.3% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 340,764 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $10,707,000 after buying an additional 146,339 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Comcast

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is a diversified global media and technology company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its principal operations are organized around Comcast Cable, which provides broadband internet, video, voice and wireless services to residential and business customers in the United States under the Xfinity and Comcast Business brands, and NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment group that develops, produces and distributes content across broadcast and cable networks, film, and streaming platforms.

NBCUniversal’s assets include the NBC broadcast network, a portfolio of cable channels, Universal Pictures and other film and television production businesses, and the Peacock streaming service.