Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.31

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 15th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.31 per share by the cable giant on Wednesday, July 24th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd.

Comcast has raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 17 consecutive years. Comcast has a payout ratio of 27.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Comcast to earn $4.47 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.7%.

Comcast Trading Down 0.7 %

CMCSA stock traded down $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $39.08. 1,701,462 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,688,039. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.59. Comcast has a one year low of $36.43 and a one year high of $47.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.34 billion, a PE ratio of 10.36, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $40.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.16.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $30.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.83 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 12.64%. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Comcast will post 4.21 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on CMCSA shares. Macquarie dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $43.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup lowered their target price on Comcast from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.33.

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.