Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Receives $34.76 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the twenty-nine research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $34.7143.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on CMCSA shares. Pivotal Research cut shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Comcast to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $33.00 price target (up from $32.79) on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, January 30th.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of CMCSA stock opened at $27.66 on Tuesday. Comcast has a 52-week low of $25.75 and a 52-week high of $36.66. The stock has a market cap of $99.52 billion, a PE ratio of 5.15, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $30.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.30.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.09. Comcast had a net margin of 16.17% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The firm had revenue of $32.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Comcast will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Comcast’s payout ratio is 24.58%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.66, for a total value of $1,892,549.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 622,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,325,493.76. The trade was a 8.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comcast

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at $2,498,626,000. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Comcast by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 140,343,399 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,194,929,000 after acquiring an additional 24,166,881 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Comcast by 65.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 55,664,933 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,663,825,000 after acquiring an additional 21,958,603 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox lifted its position in Comcast by 18.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 111,272,320 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,971,309,000 after acquiring an additional 17,054,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in Comcast by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 180,687,135 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,677,190,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,335 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Company Profile

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.