Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Comcast from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Daiwa Securities Group reduced their price objective on shares of Comcast from $38.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Comcast from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Comcast from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.87.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of CMCSA opened at $30.16 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.85. Comcast has a 1 year low of $25.75 and a 1 year high of $37.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $108.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.79. 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 released its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $32.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.35 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 16.17% and a return on equity of 16.86%. Comcast’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Comcast will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 24.58%.

Insider Activity

In related 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 directly owned 622,336 shares in the company, valued at $20,325,493.76. The trade was a 8.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comcast

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CMCSA. Capital A Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 173.7% during the 2nd quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 687 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Comcast during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. United Financial Planning Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute acquired a new stake in Comcast during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.