Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Receives $47.33 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $44.13.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America downgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Benchmark reduced their price objective on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CMCSA. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Comcast by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,904,647,000 after acquiring an additional 6,062,658 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Comcast by 1.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,871,235 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,331,192,000 after purchasing an additional 416,759 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Comcast by 6.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 30,364,136 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,268,310,000 after buying an additional 1,717,762 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its position in Comcast by 5.4% in the third quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 15,983,230 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $667,620,000 after buying an additional 822,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 4.8% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 14,918,501 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $623,146,000 after buying an additional 676,920 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of CMCSA opened at $33.94 on Thursday. Comcast has a one year low of $32.50 and a one year high of $45.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $38.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $129.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Comcast will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.89%. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 29.88%.

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.