Loop Capital Has Lowered Expectations for Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Stock Price

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) had its price target dropped by equities researchers at Loop Capital from $54.00 to $53.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the cable giant’s stock. Loop Capital’s target price suggests a potential upside of 40.70% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on CMCSA. StockNews.com upgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 27th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Comcast from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.39.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of CMCSA stock opened at $37.67 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $144.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.99. Comcast has a one year low of $36.43 and a one year high of $47.11. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.25.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. The business 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Comcast will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Comcast

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

Institutional Trading of Comcast

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 26.5% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 5,396 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Old Port Advisors boosted its holdings in Comcast by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 6,910 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC grew its position in Comcast by 4.5% in the third 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 last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 2.2% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 154,036 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $6,434,000 after buying an additional 3,323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 171,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $7,161,000 after acquiring an additional 22,684 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

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.