Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $29.54, but opened at $27.73. Comcast shares last traded at $27.7520, with a volume of 4,363,047 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMCSA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Bank of America decreased their target price on Comcast from $38.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 29th. Moffett Nathanson reduced their price objective on shares of Comcast from $58.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Arete Research dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $39.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Williams Trading set a $40.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.92.

Comcast Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $103.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a fifty day moving average of $28.04 and a 200-day moving average of $31.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 13th. The cable giant reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $30.34 billion for the quarter. Comcast had a return on equity of 18.06% and a net margin of 18.33%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 14th will be given a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 14th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.96%.

Institutional Trading of Comcast

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Comcast by 0.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 369,438,921 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $13,185,275,000 after buying an additional 1,257,196 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 4.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 180,687,135 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,677,190,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,335 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in Comcast by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 112,567,918 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,536,884,000 after buying an additional 1,295,598 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Comcast during the second quarter valued at about $3,528,361,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 7.5% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,154,170 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,289,984,000 after acquiring an additional 2,517,906 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Comcast

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is a diversified global media and technology company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its principal operations are organized around Comcast Cable, which provides broadband internet, video, voice and wireless services to residential and business customers in the United States under the Xfinity and Comcast Business brands, and NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment group that develops, produces and distributes content across broadcast and cable networks, film, and streaming platforms.

NBCUniversal’s assets include the NBC broadcast network, a portfolio of cable channels, Universal Pictures and other film and television production businesses, and the Peacock streaming service.