Analysts Set Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Target Price at $42.50

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $42.50.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CMCSA shares. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Comcast from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered Comcast from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $31.00 in a report on Monday, April 14th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Comcast in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,835,226,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Comcast during the 4th quarter worth about $743,681,000. Amundi lifted its position in Comcast by 147.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 24,086,671 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $895,499,000 after purchasing an additional 14,369,056 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Comcast by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 141,680,277 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,317,167,000 after buying an additional 11,255,683 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 55,334.5% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $345,565,000 after buying an additional 8,258,128 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

CMCSA stock opened at $33.96 on Tuesday. Comcast has a 1 year low of $32.20 and a 1 year high of $45.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $128.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.30.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. On average, equities analysts predict that Comcast will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.81%.

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.