Benchmark Reaffirms Buy Rating for Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at Benchmark in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $55.00 target price on the cable giant’s stock. Benchmark’s price objective points to a potential upside of 36.99% from the stock’s current price.

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Comcast from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com downgraded Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their target price on Comcast from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 13th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.50.

Comcast Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Comcast stock opened at $40.15 on Wednesday. Comcast has a twelve month low of $36.38 and a twelve month high of $47.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $42.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.97. The firm has a market cap of $159.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.79, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.98.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $31.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.41 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.75% and a net margin of 12.66%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 114,749 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total value of $5,289,928.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comcast

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 94.1% during the third quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 623 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 299.1% during the 4th quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 634,727 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 475,675 shares in the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A purchased a new stake in Comcast during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Comcast in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.