Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Given New $37.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) had its target price trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $45.00 to $37.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the cable giant’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on CMCSA. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank raised shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research increased their target price on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Comcast currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $33.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.07. Comcast has a 12 month low of $32.50 and a 12 month high of $47.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $128.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.05, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. Analysts expect that Comcast will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.33 dividend. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 55,334.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $345,565,000 after acquiring an additional 8,258,128 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in Comcast by 5.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $4,904,647,000 after purchasing an additional 6,062,658 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of Comcast by 530.5% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,429,298 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $143,242,000 after buying an additional 2,885,370 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 211.7% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,890,571 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $120,739,000 after buying an additional 1,963,246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Comcast by 31.7% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 7,613,977 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $318,036,000 after acquiring an additional 1,833,453 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

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.