Morgan Stanley Cuts Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Price Target to $38.00

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) had its price objective decreased by Morgan Stanley from $45.00 to $38.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the cable giant’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Bank of America cut shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday. BNP Paribas raised Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Comcast from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.00.

Comcast Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Comcast stock opened at $33.66 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $38.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $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. Comcast has a twelve month low of $32.50 and a twelve month high of $47.11. The stock has a market cap of $128.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is 31.81%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

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

Institutional Trading of Comcast

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Comcast by 904.0% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $10,632,000 after purchasing an additional 229,192 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 171,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $7,161,000 after acquiring an additional 22,684 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 3.7% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $92,331,000 after acquiring an additional 15,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast during the third quarter worth $2,541,000. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

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.