Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Comcast Put Options (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders bought 65,087 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 62% compared to the typical volume of 40,183 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comcast

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. Trust Co. of Vermont purchased a new position in shares of Comcast in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,698,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Comcast during the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,618,000. Larry Mathis Financial Planning LLC bought a new stake in Comcast during the 2nd quarter valued at about $426,000. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC increased its stake in Comcast by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC now owns 20,303 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,552 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC raised its holdings in Comcast by 5.9% in the second quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC now owns 257,556 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $6,323,000 after buying an additional 14,244 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CMCSA. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, July 24th. New Street Research reduced their target price on Comcast from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Comcast from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $23.00 price target on Comcast and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.96.

Comcast Stock Up 1.0%

CMCSA traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $25.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,688,358 shares, compared to its average volume of 34,412,906. Comcast has a 1 year low of $21.28 and a 1 year high of $34.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $23.68 and its 200-day moving average is $27.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.22, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $29.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.24 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 8.97% and a return on equity of 14.77%. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Comcast will post 3.52 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 7th will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 7th. Comcast’s payout ratio is 42.72%.

About Comcast

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is a diversified global media and technology company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its principal operations are organized around Comcast Cable, which provides broadband internet, video, voice and wireless services to residential and business customers in the United States under the Xfinity and Comcast Business brands, and NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment group that develops, produces and distributes content across broadcast and cable networks, film, and streaming platforms.

NBCUniversal’s assets include the NBC broadcast network, a portfolio of cable channels, Universal Pictures and other film and television production businesses, and the Peacock streaming service.