Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $43.64.

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Macquarie dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. BNP Paribas raised Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank cut Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on Comcast from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Comcast

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Comcast by 904.0% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $10,632,000 after purchasing an additional 229,192 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at $743,681,000. Bfsg LLC boosted its stake in Comcast by 752.8% in the fourth quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 83,366 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,129,000 after acquiring an additional 73,590 shares in the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 43,509 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 3,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robinson Value Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Comcast by 136.7% during the fourth quarter. Robinson Value Management Ltd. now owns 102,360 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,842,000 after purchasing an additional 59,107 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Stock Performance

CMCSA opened at $37.37 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.30 billion, a PE ratio of 9.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast has a one year low of $32.50 and a one year high of $45.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $35.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.01.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Comcast will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is 31.81%.

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.