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

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 18th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be paid a dividend of 0.31 per share by the cable giant on Wednesday, October 23rd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 2nd.

Comcast has increased its dividend 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 27.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Comcast to earn $4.49 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 27.6%.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of CMCSA stock opened at $41.77 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $39.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.56. Comcast has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.11. The company has a market capitalization of $163.89 billion, a PE ratio of 11.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.01.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.09. Comcast had a net margin of 12.46% and a return on equity of 20.17%. The company had revenue of $29.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. Comcast’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Comcast will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, 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 research note on Tuesday, June 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.58.

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.