Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Cut to “Sector Perform” at Scotiabank

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) was downgraded by investment analysts at Scotiabank from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They presently have a $44.50 target price on the cable giant’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target suggests a potential upside of 32.20% from the company’s previous close.

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Evercore ISI upgraded Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.83.

Comcast Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $33.66 on Monday. Comcast has a 1-year low of $32.50 and a 1-year high of $47.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $38.61 and a 200-day moving average of $40.07. The firm has a market cap of $128.80 billion, a PE ratio of 8.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly 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 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Comcast will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Comcast news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,779,218.91. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 269.9% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 365.4% in the 3rd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Comcast in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

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.