Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Shares Bought by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC grew its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 6.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 169,417 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 10,892 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $6,358,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquired a new position in shares of Comcast in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in Comcast by 365.4% in the 3rd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Comcast by 220.3% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 759 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC raised its position in Comcast by 54.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 814 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Benchmark cut their price objective on shares of Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Comcast has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $34.37 on Friday. The stock 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. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $32.50 and a 52 week high of $45.31. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $37.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

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

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.