Northstar Group Inc. Has $284,000 Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Northstar Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,575 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the quarter. Northstar Group Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $284,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 18.9% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 832,594 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $34,810,000 after acquiring an additional 132,442 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 19.7% during the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 34,018 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,380,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Boston Common Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the third quarter valued at approximately $5,004,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 5.6% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 6,875 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the period. Finally, Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC acquired a new stake in Comcast during the third quarter worth approximately $1,690,000. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on CMCSA. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America cut Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued 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 $44.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the transaction, the president now owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,779,218.91. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of CMCSA stock opened at $34.37 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $131.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.28, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.50 and a fifty-two week high of $45.31. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results 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 net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Research analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.84%. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 29.88%.

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.