Bessemer Group Inc. Buys 601,657 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 31.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,520,213 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 601,657 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. owned 0.07% of Comcast worth $94,584,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 629.9% in the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 3,791,412 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $137,414,000 after acquiring an additional 3,271,996 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 25.2% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 72,912 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $2,736,000 after purchasing an additional 14,671 shares during the period. FIL Ltd increased its position in shares of Comcast by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 556,273 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $20,877,000 after purchasing an additional 28,527 shares during the last quarter. Canopy Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at $206,000. Finally, Twin Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Comcast by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 134,512 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,048,000 after buying an additional 2,156 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Benchmark cut their target price on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie decreased their price target on Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.10.

Comcast Trading Up 7.1 %

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $35.18 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.66. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $32.20 and a 12 month high of $45.31. The company has a market capitalization of $133.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.48, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors 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 is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 31.81%.

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.