Wall Street Zen Upgrades Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) to “Hold”

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Pivotal Research lowered shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Comcast from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on Comcast from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Benchmark decreased their target price on Comcast from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.87.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $30.16 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $30.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.82. The firm has a market cap of $108.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.62, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.79. Comcast has a 52-week low of $25.75 and a 52-week high of $37.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The cable giant reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.09. Comcast had a net margin of 16.17% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The firm had revenue of $32.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.96 earnings per share. Comcast’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Comcast will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.66, for a total value of $1,892,549.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 622,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,325,493.76. This trade represents a 8.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Comcast

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the second quarter valued at $3,528,361,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Comcast by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 140,343,399 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $4,194,929,000 after acquiring an additional 24,166,881 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Comcast by 65.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 55,664,933 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,663,825,000 after acquiring an additional 21,958,603 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox grew its stake in Comcast by 18.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 111,272,320 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,971,309,000 after acquiring an additional 17,054,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in Comcast by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 180,687,135 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,677,190,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,335 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Comcast Company Profile

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is a diversified global media and technology company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its principal operations are organized around Comcast Cable, which provides broadband internet, video, voice and wireless services to residential and business customers in the United States under the Xfinity and Comcast Business brands, and NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment group that develops, produces and distributes content across broadcast and cable networks, film, and streaming platforms.

NBCUniversal’s assets include the NBC broadcast network, a portfolio of cable channels, Universal Pictures and other film and television production businesses, and the Peacock streaming service.