Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays upped their price target on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.33.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $36.58 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $39.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.16. 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 has a 1-year low of $36.15 and a 1-year high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. Comcast’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the sale, 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the president now owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Comcast

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted 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 during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,904,647,000 after buying an additional 6,062,658 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Comcast by 92.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,722,620 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $339,223,000 after acquiring an additional 4,182,525 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in Comcast by 530.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,885,370 shares during the period. Finally, Darsana Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in Comcast by 26.7% during the second quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 9,500,000 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $372,020,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000,000 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.