Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Earns “Buy” Rating from Benchmark

Benchmark reissued their buy rating on shares of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSAFree Report) in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $60.00 price objective on the cable giant’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on CMCSA. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Macquarie boosted their price objective on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Scotiabank raised Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.19.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Comcast

Comcast Stock Down 0.1 %

CMCSA stock opened at $43.47 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.03. The stock has a market cap of $166.34 billion, a PE ratio of 11.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast has a fifty-two week low of $36.43 and a fifty-two week high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSAGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Comcast will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.33%.

Institutional Trading of Comcast

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 41.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,016,389 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,214,512,000 after purchasing an additional 8,243,302 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Comcast by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 115,703,280 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,015,737,000 after buying an additional 7,929,963 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,904,647,000 after buying an additional 6,062,658 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 80.9% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,542,253 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $457,007,000 after acquiring an additional 4,714,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Comcast by 92.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,722,620 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $339,223,000 after purchasing an additional 4,182,525 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Comcast

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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.

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Analyst Recommendations for Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

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