Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Upgraded by Evercore ISI to Strong-Buy Rating

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on CMCSA. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Comcast from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.19.

Comcast Stock Down 0.1 %

Comcast stock opened at $43.47 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market cap of $166.34 billion, a PE ratio of 11.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 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. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.05.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. Comcast’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Comcast will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. Comcast’s payout ratio is 33.33%.

Institutional Trading of Comcast

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 4.5% in the second quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,027 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,550 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank grew its position in shares of Comcast by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 191,846 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $7,513,000 after buying an additional 15,664 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Comcast by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,920,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $80,232,000 after buying an additional 68,139 shares during the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 0.7% during the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $92,331,000 after buying an additional 15,807 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 3,816.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 558,382 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $21,866,000 after acquiring an additional 544,123 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

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.