Bard Financial Services Inc. Sells 2,810 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Bard Financial Services Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 166,410 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 2,810 shares during the quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $6,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 5.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,904,647,000 after acquiring an additional 6,062,658 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 38,329,384 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,500,722,000 after buying an additional 1,000,626 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Comcast by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,871,235 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,331,192,000 after buying an additional 416,759 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 6.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 30,364,136 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,268,310,000 after acquiring an additional 1,717,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its stake in Comcast by 5.4% in the third quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 15,983,230 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $667,620,000 after acquiring an additional 822,936 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on CMCSA. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley cut Comcast from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $48.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Scotiabank upgraded Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.33.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $37.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,328,272 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,669,895. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $41.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.01. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $36.43 and a 1-year high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.26 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

In related news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 position. The sale 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 business’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 sale, the president now owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.