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

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 42,653 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 81% compared to the average volume of 23,509 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Comcast news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, 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 transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Comcast by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 141,680,277 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,317,167,000 after buying an additional 11,255,683 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 5.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,835,226,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Comcast by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 85,812,139 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,212,244,000 after acquiring an additional 1,006,272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dodge & Cox lifted its stake in Comcast by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 79,102,667 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,968,723,000 after acquiring an additional 5,039,823 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Comcast Stock Performance

CMCSA stock traded up $0.96 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $36.35. The stock had a trading volume of 24,007,714 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,094,080. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.67. Comcast has a 52 week low of $32.50 and a 52 week high of $45.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 29.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CMCSA. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.13.

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.