Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. Buys 1,247 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. raised its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 3.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 41,653 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,247 shares during the period. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,563,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 904.0% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $10,632,000 after purchasing an additional 229,192 shares in the last quarter. Robinson Value Management Ltd. lifted its position in Comcast by 136.7% during the fourth quarter. Robinson Value Management Ltd. now owns 102,360 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,842,000 after purchasing an additional 59,107 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 171,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $7,161,000 after buying an additional 22,684 shares in the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 855,787 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $32,118,000 after buying an additional 24,827 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Comcast by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,920,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $80,232,000 after buying an additional 68,139 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CMCSA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Ten equities research 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 MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the business’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. This represents a 4.56 % 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 insiders.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $35.23 on Wednesday. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.50 and a fifty-two week high of $45.31. The company has a market cap of $133.21 billion, a PE ratio of 8.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.68. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.85.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is 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.