Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Lowered to Equal Weight Rating by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $45.00 price objective on the cable giant’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $48.00.

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Comcast from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.06.

Comcast Price Performance

Comcast stock opened at $38.86 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $148.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.45, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.99. Comcast has a 52-week low of $36.43 and a 52-week high of $47.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $42.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Comcast will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.33%.

Insider Activity at Comcast

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CMCSA. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Comcast by 904.0% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $10,632,000 after buying an additional 229,192 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its stake in Comcast by 3.7% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,920,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $80,232,000 after acquiring an additional 68,139 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in Comcast by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 171,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $7,161,000 after acquiring an additional 22,684 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Comcast by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $92,331,000 after purchasing an additional 15,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in Comcast by 3,816.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 558,382 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $21,866,000 after purchasing an additional 544,123 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Comcast Company Profile

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.