Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Research Coverage Started at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $44.00 price objective on the cable giant’s stock.

CMCSA has been the topic of several other research reports. Rosenblatt Securities restated a neutral rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, April 26th. Macquarie decreased their target price on Comcast from $43.00 to $40.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $47.25 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. BNP Paribas cut Comcast from a neutral rating to an underperform rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $48.62.

Comcast Stock Performance

Comcast stock opened at $39.16 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $153.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $38.71 and its 200-day moving average is $41.39.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The firm had revenue of $30.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Comcast will post 4.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 3rd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Corp Comcast sold 3,176,923 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.19, for a total value of $10,134,384.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,380,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Comcast

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Paralel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 1.1% during the third quarter. Paralel Advisors LLC now owns 50,446 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $2,237,000 after buying an additional 569 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in Comcast by 26.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 29,410 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,304,000 after acquiring an additional 6,097 shares during the period. Westover Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Comcast during the third quarter valued at $358,000. Trexquant Investment LP raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 422.0% during the third quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 200,356 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $8,884,000 after purchasing an additional 161,975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trustmark National Bank Trust Department lifted its holdings in Comcast by 75.4% in the third quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 32,680 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,449,000 after purchasing an additional 14,052 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

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.