Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-nine research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $34.7589.

Several brokerages have commented on CMCSA. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Barclays set a $28.00 price target on shares of Comcast and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Comcast from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Benchmark reduced their target price on Comcast from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 5th.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of CMCSA opened at $28.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $103.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.79. Comcast has a 1 year low of $25.75 and a 1 year high of $37.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $30.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

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

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. Comcast’s payout ratio is 24.58%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.66, for a total value of $1,892,549.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 622,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,325,493.76. The trade was a 8.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at $2,498,626,000. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Comcast by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 140,343,399 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $4,194,929,000 after purchasing an additional 24,166,881 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Comcast by 65.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 55,664,933 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,663,825,000 after purchasing an additional 21,958,603 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 18.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 111,272,320 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,971,309,000 after purchasing an additional 17,054,579 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 180,687,135 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,677,190,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,335 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Company Profile

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.