StockNews.com Downgrades Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) to Buy

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Comcast from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank raised shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Comcast has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.06.

Comcast Stock Up 2.2 %

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $38.22 on Thursday. Comcast has a twelve month low of $36.43 and a twelve month high of $47.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $42.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.99.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Comcast will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Comcast news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Comcast by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 28,498 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,190,000 after buying an additional 1,221 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Comcast by 2.2% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 154,036 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $6,434,000 after purchasing an additional 3,323 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 171,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $7,161,000 after purchasing an additional 22,684 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in 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 valued at $345,565,000 after purchasing an additional 8,258,128 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Comcast by 904.0% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $10,632,000 after purchasing an additional 229,192 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

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.