Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Price Target Cut to $36.00 by Analysts at Macquarie

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) had its price target decreased by Macquarie from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. Macquarie currently has a neutral rating on the cable giant’s stock.

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of other reports. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. BNP Paribas raised Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.00.

Comcast Stock Up 1.2 %

CMCSA opened at $33.66 on Friday. Comcast has a 1-year low of $32.50 and a 1-year high of $47.11. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.07. 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 company has a market capitalization of $128.80 billion, a PE ratio of 9.05, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Comcast will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.92%. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 31.81%.

Insider Activity at Comcast

In other news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, 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 corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Comcast

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Comcast by 904.0% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $10,632,000 after purchasing an additional 229,192 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in Comcast by 15.2% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 171,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $7,161,000 after purchasing an additional 22,684 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its position in Comcast by 3.7% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,920,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $80,232,000 after acquiring an additional 68,139 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Comcast by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $92,331,000 after purchasing an additional 15,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,541,000. Hedge funds and other 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.