Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Stock Price Crosses Above Fifty Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) passed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $23.34 and traded as high as $23.88. Comcast shares last traded at $23.87, with a volume of 35,891,940 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price objective on Comcast from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Comcast from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Zacks Research lowered Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Comcast from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 25th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Comcast from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $18.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.17.

Comcast Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.68.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The cable giant reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $29.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.22 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 14.64% and a net margin of 9.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Comcast Corporation will post 3.54 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 6th will be paid a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 6th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.77%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Comcast

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its holdings in Comcast by 824.4% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 11,616,490 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $333,509,000 after acquiring an additional 10,359,800 shares in the last quarter. Nykredit A S bought a new position in shares of Comcast during the second quarter valued at $185,237,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Comcast during the third quarter valued at $135,207,000. Cullen Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast in the 2nd quarter worth about $129,801,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Comcast by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 40,864,921 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,173,232,000 after purchasing an additional 3,783,234 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Comcast

Comcast Corporation is a global media and communications company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1963 as American Cable Systems, the company grew through the expansion of cable television and broadband services and adopted the Comcast name in 1969.

Through its Connectivity & Platforms businesses, Comcast provides residential and business customers with broadband internet, video, voice, mobile and related services. Its Xfinity brand offers internet, television, streaming and wireless products in the United States, while Comcast Business serves commercial and enterprise customers with connectivity, communications and technology solutions.