Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the thirty-four ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $34.9839.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CMCSA. Oppenheimer set a $38.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Daiwa Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Comcast from $38.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on Comcast from $36.00 to $34.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on Comcast from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th.

Institutional Trading of Comcast

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 369,438,921 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $13,185,275,000 after purchasing an additional 1,257,196 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Comcast by 4.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 180,687,135 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,677,190,000 after buying an additional 7,917,335 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox grew its stake in Comcast by 1.2% during the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 112,567,918 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,536,884,000 after buying an additional 1,295,598 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the second quarter worth $3,528,361,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,154,170 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,289,984,000 after acquiring an additional 2,517,906 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of CMCSA stock opened at $28.42 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $28.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $103.56 billion, a PE ratio of 4.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.81. 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 has a 1-year low of $25.75 and a 1-year high of $38.40.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The cable giant reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $31.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.74 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 18.33% and a return on equity of 18.06%. The business’s revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.12 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Comcast will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 14th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.96%.

About Comcast

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.