Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.33

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 31st,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of 0.33 per share by the cable giant on Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31.

Comcast has raised its dividend by an average of 7.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 16 consecutive years. Comcast has a payout ratio of 25.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Comcast to earn $4.41 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 28.1%.

Comcast Stock Performance

CMCSA stock traded up $0.41 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $33.66. The company had a trading volume of 39,117,019 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,017,746. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $38.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $128.80 billion, a PE ratio of 9.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. Comcast has a fifty-two week low of $32.50 and a fifty-two week high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. Analysts anticipate that Comcast will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CMCSA shares. Barclays boosted their target price on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. BNP Paribas raised Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.