Private Management Group Inc. Grows Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Private Management Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 830,960 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,161 shares during the period. Comcast accounts for 1.2% of Private Management Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Private Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $34,709,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,027 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,411,000 after buying an additional 1,550 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank increased its stake in Comcast by 8.9% during the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 191,846 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $7,513,000 after acquiring an additional 15,664 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,117,000. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Comcast by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $92,331,000 after purchasing an additional 15,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in Comcast by 3,816.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 558,382 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $21,866,000 after buying an additional 544,123 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMCSA has been the subject of several analyst reports. Pivotal Research raised their target price on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Comcast from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.63.

Comcast Stock Performance

CMCSA stock traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $43.56. The stock had a trading volume of 25,078,455 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,681,141. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $168.69 billion, a PE ratio of 11.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.01. Comcast Co. has a 52-week low of $36.43 and a 52-week high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 12.46% and a return on equity of 20.17%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.98%.

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.