Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seventeen brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $46.75.

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comcast

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its stake in Comcast by 25,881.7% during the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 10,850,995 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $470,391,000 after purchasing an additional 10,809,231 shares during the period. Allstate Corp boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 2.4% during the first quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 13,719 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $595,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. Chiron Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Comcast by 8.0% during the first quarter. Chiron Capital Management LLC now owns 5,888 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Comcast by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,241 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $491,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its stake in Comcast by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 47,974 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $2,080,000 after purchasing an additional 3,553 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Comcast Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $42.88 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.84. Comcast has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.08 billion, a PE ratio of 11.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Comcast will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.33%.

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.