Comcast Co. (CMCSA) To Go Ex-Dividend on January 8th

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 31st, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a dividend of 0.31 per share by the cable giant on Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th.

Comcast has raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 17 consecutive years. Comcast has a payout ratio of 28.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Comcast to earn $4.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.7%.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $43.56 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The company has a market capitalization of $168.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.59, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.01. Comcast has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $40.80 and its 200 day moving average is $39.58.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 12.46% and a return on equity of 20.17%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. Research analysts predict that Comcast will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Pivotal Research raised their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Scotiabank upgraded Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.63.

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.