Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Shares Purchased by ARS Investment Partners LLC

ARS Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 41.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 191,691 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 55,770 shares during the period. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $7,194,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in Comcast by 55,334.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $345,565,000 after buying an additional 8,258,128 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Comcast by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,904,647,000 after buying an additional 6,062,658 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Comcast by 92.1% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,722,620 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $339,223,000 after buying an additional 4,182,525 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in Comcast by 530.5% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,429,298 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $143,242,000 after buying an additional 2,885,370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Darsana Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in Comcast by 26.7% during the 2nd quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 9,500,000 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $372,020,000 after buying an additional 2,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Comcast news, 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. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CMCSA. Barclays raised their price objective on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI raised Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.33.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of CMCSA opened at $36.58 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $39.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.19. The company has a market capitalization of $139.97 billion, a PE ratio of 9.83, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $36.15 and a 52 week high of $47.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

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

Comcast Dividend Announcement

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

Comcast Company 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.