Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Rating Increased 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 report released on Tuesday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Macquarie boosted their target price on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Scotiabank upgraded Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.19.

Comcast Stock Down 1.3 %

CMCSA opened at $42.64 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Comcast has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $163.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. Comcast’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Comcast will post 4.26 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comcast

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,904,647,000 after acquiring an additional 6,062,658 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Comcast by 2.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 38,329,384 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,500,722,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,626 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Comcast by 1.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,871,235 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,331,192,000 after purchasing an additional 416,759 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Comcast by 6.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 30,364,136 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,268,310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,717,762 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its stake in Comcast by 5.4% during the third quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 15,983,230 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $667,620,000 after purchasing an additional 822,936 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.