Macquarie Reiterates “Neutral” Rating for Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Macquarie in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $42.00 target price on the cable giant’s stock. Macquarie’s price target points to a potential upside of 12.03% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank upgraded Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Comcast currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.33.

Comcast Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $37.49. The stock had a trading volume of 25,001,529 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,030,566. Comcast has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.11. The company has a market cap of $143.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.08, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Comcast will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 value of $1,087,620.83. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comcast

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Comcast in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Comcast by 365.4% in the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Comcast in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Comcast by 220.3% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 759 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.