Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Earns Equal Weight Rating from Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in a report issued on Thursday morning. The firm issued an equal weight rating and a $31.00 price objective on the cable giant’s stock.

CMCSA has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on Comcast from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Pivotal Research downgraded Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Arete Research set a $23.00 price objective on Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Barclays set a $28.00 target price on Comcast and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $35.25 to $34.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.81.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of Comcast stock opened at $29.63 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $29.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $106.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.52, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.80. 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 has a 52 week low of $25.75 and a 52 week high of $36.66.

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

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Comcast news, CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $20,325,493.76. This represents a 8.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.32% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comcast

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,498,626,000. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 140,343,399 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,194,929,000 after buying an additional 24,166,881 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 65.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 55,664,933 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,663,825,000 after buying an additional 21,958,603 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Comcast by 4.6% in 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 during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Comcast by 2,970.5% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,394,728 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $221,028,000 after acquiring an additional 7,153,895 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.