Short Interest in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Expands By 7.0%

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 53,500,000 shares, a growth of 7.0% from the December 15th total of 49,990,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 19,710,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.7 days. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Comcast news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the president now owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Comcast in the second quarter worth $26,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 269.9% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Comcast during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Comcast by 365.4% during the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 220.3% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 759 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Comcast from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $48.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Comcast currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.33.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $36.58. 21,859,674 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,748,178. Comcast has a fifty-two week low of $36.15 and a fifty-two week high of $47.11. The firm has a market cap of $139.97 billion, a PE ratio of 9.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 33.33%.

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.