Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Earns Neutral Rating from Rosenblatt Securities

Rosenblatt Securities reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $45.00 price target on the cable giant’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on CMCSA. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Comcast in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. They set a buy rating and a $44.00 price objective for the company. Pivotal Research cut their price target on Comcast from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Benchmark reissued a buy rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Comcast from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Comcast has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $47.28.

Comcast Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of Comcast stock opened at $39.69 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $155.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.50, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Comcast has a 1 year low of $36.43 and a 1 year high of $47.46. The company has a 50-day moving average of $38.53 and a 200 day moving average of $40.66.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $29.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.02 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.17% and a net margin of 12.46%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Comcast will post 4.22 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 issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.80%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Corp Comcast sold 3,176,923 shares of the company’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 sale, the insider now owns 2,000,000 shares in the company, valued at $6,380,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Comcast

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Comcast by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 115,703,280 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,015,737,000 after purchasing an additional 7,929,963 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,542,988,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Comcast by 41.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,016,389 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,214,512,000 after purchasing an additional 8,243,302 shares in the last quarter. Harris Associates L P lifted its holdings in Comcast by 10.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,854,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in Comcast by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 15,688,650 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $687,947,000 after purchasing an additional 570,050 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.