Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Price Target to $45.00

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) had its price target dropped by Wells Fargo & Company from $46.00 to $45.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the cable giant’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 18.23% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on CMCSA. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Macquarie upped their target price on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.33.

Comcast Stock Performance

Comcast stock traded up $0.39 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $38.06. 2,878,727 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,120,107. Comcast has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The business has a 50 day moving average of $41.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $145.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.01.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $31.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Comcast will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Comcast

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Comcast by 904.0% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $10,632,000 after acquiring an additional 229,192 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 171,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $7,161,000 after purchasing an additional 22,684 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its position in Comcast by 3.7% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,920,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $80,232,000 after buying an additional 68,139 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $92,331,000 after purchasing an additional 15,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its position in shares of Comcast by 3,816.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 558,382 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $21,866,000 after purchasing an additional 544,123 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.