Zacks Research Upgrades Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) to Hold

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) was upgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

CMCSA has been the subject of several other reports. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Comcast from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Benchmark lowered their target price on Comcast from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Comcast to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, Arete Research set a $23.00 price target on Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.71.

Comcast Stock Down 2.3%

CMCSA stock opened at $28.05 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $30.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.42. Comcast has a 12 month low of $25.75 and a 12 month high of $36.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.80.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $32.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.35 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 16.17% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.96 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

In related news, CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.66, for a total transaction of $1,892,549.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 622,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,325,493.76. This trade represents a 8.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Comcast

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Comcast by 2.6% in the second quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 12,275 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $438,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. raised its holdings in Comcast by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. now owns 13,636 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Comcast by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 7,532 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Cora Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Cora Capital Advisors LLC now owns 11,013 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hengehold Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 82,778 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,601,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

About Comcast

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.