Bristlecone Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Bristlecone Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 70.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 106,986 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,401 shares during the period. Bristlecone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $4,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Comcast by 269.9% during the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the period. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake 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. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Comcast by 220.3% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 759 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CMCSA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank cut Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.13.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $34.37 on Monday. Comcast Co. has a 52-week low of $32.50 and a 52-week high of $45.31. The company has a market cap of $129.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.28, a PEG 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $37.71 and its 200-day moving average is $39.87.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.84%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.88%.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

In other news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal 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 shares were sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 534,849 shares in the company, 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.

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.