Ritholtz Wealth Management Raises Stock Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 94,861 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 972 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Comcast were worth $3,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in Comcast by 55,334.5% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $345,565,000 after buying an additional 8,258,128 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Comcast by 5.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,904,647,000 after purchasing an additional 6,062,658 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Comcast by 92.1% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,722,620 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $339,223,000 after purchasing an additional 4,182,525 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in Comcast by 530.5% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,429,298 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $143,242,000 after purchasing an additional 2,885,370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Darsana Capital Partners LP lifted its position in Comcast by 26.7% in the second quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 9,500,000 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $372,020,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Comcast

In other Comcast news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value 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. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Comcast Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $36.31 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $36.15 and a 12 month high of $47.11. The stock has a market cap of $138.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $40.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on CMCSA shares. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Comcast from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.33.

Comcast 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.