Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Shares Purchased by LS Investment Advisors LLC

LS Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 96.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,172 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,940 shares during the quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $592,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CMCSA. Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 14.2% during the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 25,968 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,085,000 after purchasing an additional 3,225 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 45.2% during the third quarter. Hara Capital LLC now owns 8,174 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 2,545 shares in the last quarter. JB Capital LLC lifted its stake in Comcast by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 416,676 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $17,405,000 after buying an additional 21,815 shares in the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 23.3% in the third quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 111,000 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,636,000 after acquiring an additional 21,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Washington Trust Bank lifted its holdings in Comcast by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 269,708 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $11,266,000 after purchasing an additional 4,256 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on CMCSA. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.75.

Comcast Price Performance

Comcast stock opened at $44.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.66. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.13 billion, a PE ratio of 11.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. Comcast’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.33%.

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.