Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Reaches New 52-Week Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)’s share price reached a new 52-week low on Friday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $47.00 to $43.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Comcast traded as low as $36.43 and last traded at $38.26, with a volume of 4269295 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $37.87.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $47.25 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com cut shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Comcast from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Comcast has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 114,749 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total transaction of $5,289,928.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Comcast by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 107,773,317 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,725,926,000 after acquiring an additional 15,625,543 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,542,988,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Comcast by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 46,019,891 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,040,522,000 after purchasing an additional 141,874 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Comcast by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 36,170,191 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,603,786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,374 shares during the period. Finally, Harris Associates L P boosted its holdings in Comcast by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 18,873,787 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $827,616,000 after purchasing an additional 1,854,671 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Stock Up 1.6 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $41.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.61. The company has a market capitalization of $152.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.18, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The cable giant reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $30.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.83 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 19.75%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.