Ieq Capital LLC Increases Stock Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Ieq Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 47.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 392,329 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 126,546 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $14,724,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Alberta Investment Management Corp boosted its stake in Comcast by 204.1% during the 4th quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp now owns 110,400 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,143,000 after acquiring an additional 74,100 shares during the last quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 15,322 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $575,000 after purchasing an additional 712 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 57,842 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $2,171,000 after purchasing an additional 721 shares during the period. Convergence Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC now owns 34,482 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 4,890 shares during the period. Finally, Atlas Legacy Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast during the fourth quarter worth $218,000. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Comcast news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $284,539,128.48. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CMCSA. Pivotal Research increased 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, November 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.13.

Comcast Stock Up 0.4 %

Comcast stock opened at $36.48 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $137.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.79, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.00. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $36.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.62. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $32.50 and a 52 week high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating 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, analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. 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. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.81%.

Comcast Profile

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.