Analysts Set Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Price Target at $47.19

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $47.06.

CMCSA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley cut Comcast from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Comcast from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Macquarie lifted their target price on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the sale, the president now owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its holdings in Comcast by 55,334.5% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $345,565,000 after acquiring an additional 8,258,128 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 5.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,904,647,000 after purchasing an additional 6,062,658 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Comcast by 92.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,722,620 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $339,223,000 after buying an additional 4,182,525 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in shares of Comcast by 530.5% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,429,298 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $143,242,000 after purchasing an additional 2,885,370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Darsana Capital Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 26.7% in the second quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 9,500,000 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $372,020,000 after buying an additional 2,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of CMCSA stock opened at $38.80 on Wednesday. Comcast has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.11. The company has a market capitalization of $148.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $42.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Comcast will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.33%.

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.