Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders purchased 46,430 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 73% compared to the average daily volume of 26,835 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 price target on Comcast in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America lowered Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $50.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Benchmark cut their price target on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Scotiabank cut shares of Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Comcast currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.64.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Comcast

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the third quarter valued at about $2,777,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Comcast during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $60,000. Paloma Partners Management Co raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 226.8% in the third quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 175,000 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $7,310,000 after purchasing an additional 121,450 shares during the last quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Comcast by 0.7% during the third quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC now owns 165,273 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $6,903,000 after purchasing an additional 1,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its position in Comcast by 290.6% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 149,314 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $6,237,000 after buying an additional 111,092 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Comcast Trading Down 0.3 %

CMCSA stock opened at $36.61 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $35.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.94. Comcast has a fifty-two week low of $32.50 and a fifty-two week high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Analysts expect that Comcast will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 31.81%.

Comcast Company Profile

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.