Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Receives $46.01 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the eighteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $45.78.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Comcast from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th.

Comcast Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $38.53 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $151.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.19, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast has a 1 year low of $36.43 and a 1 year high of $47.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $38.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $29.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.02 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.17% and a net margin of 12.46%. The company’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Comcast will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.80%.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

In other Comcast news, major shareholder Corp Comcast sold 3,176,923 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.19, for a total value of $10,134,384.37. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,380,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comcast

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Comcast by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 115,703,280 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,015,737,000 after purchasing an additional 7,929,963 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,542,988,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 2.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 38,329,384 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,500,722,000 after buying an additional 1,000,626 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Comcast by 41.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,016,389 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,214,512,000 after acquiring an additional 8,243,302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harris Associates L P boosted its stake in Comcast by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 18,873,787 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $827,616,000 after acquiring an additional 1,854,671 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.