Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $29.54, but opened at $27.73. Comcast shares last traded at $27.7520, with a volume of 4,363,047 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMCSA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price target (down previously from $39.00) on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Comcast from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 31st. Daiwa Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Comcast from $38.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Williams Trading set a $40.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.92.

Comcast Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $103.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.72, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $28.04 and a 200-day moving average of $31.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 13th. The cable giant reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter. Comcast had a net margin of 18.33% and a return on equity of 18.06%. The company had revenue of $30.34 billion during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 14th will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 14th. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 21.96%.

Institutional Trading of Comcast

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Comcast by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 724,760 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $25,867,000 after buying an additional 83,631 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 369,438,921 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $13,185,275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,257,196 shares in the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 5.4% in the second quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 2,889,947 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $103,142,000 after purchasing an additional 147,231 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 20.0% during the second quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 82,089 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,928,000 after purchasing an additional 13,653 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Comcast by 39.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,055,192 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $37,954,000 after purchasing an additional 300,898 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

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.