Comcast Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.31 (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 23rd,Zacks Dividends reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a dividend of 0.31 per share by the cable giant on Wednesday, January 29th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th.

Comcast has raised its dividend by an average of 8.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 17 consecutive years. Comcast has a payout ratio of 25.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Comcast to earn $4.44 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.24 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.9%.

Comcast Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of CMCSA opened at $37.67 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $41.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.30. Comcast has a one year low of $36.43 and a one year high of $47.11. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $144.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.13, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.01.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Comcast will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Comcast news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $284,539,128.48. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, 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 $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. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMCSA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com lowered Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Macquarie boosted their price target on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.39.

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.