Analysts Set Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) PT at $48.53

Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-two brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $48.53.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CMCSA. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Macquarie cut their price objective on Comcast from $43.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 13th. BNP Paribas lowered Comcast from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Citigroup cut their price objective on Comcast from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Comcast from $55.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th.

Comcast Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $40.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $38.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.80. Comcast has a 52 week low of $36.43 and a 52 week high of $47.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $157.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.80%.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Comcast

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Comcast by 7.4% in the first 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 during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,542,988,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 8,243,302 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P lifted its position in Comcast by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 18,873,787 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $827,616,000 after purchasing an additional 1,854,671 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its position in Comcast by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 15,688,650 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $687,947,000 after purchasing an additional 570,050 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.