Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Friday morning.

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Pivotal Research increased their price target on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.06.

Comcast Trading Down 0.8 %

CMCSA opened at $37.93 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.14 billion, a PE ratio of 10.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.99. Comcast has a one year low of $36.43 and a one year high of $47.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $41.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.29.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Comcast will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm 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 yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CMCSA. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Comcast by 365.4% during the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Comcast during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Archer Investment Corp increased its holdings in Comcast by 177.1% in the second quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 812 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.