Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Shares Bought by Abacus Planning Group Inc.

Abacus Planning Group Inc. raised its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,158 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 755 shares during the quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $419,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $4,904,647,000 after buying an additional 6,062,658 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake 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 during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 6.0% during the 3rd 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 worth $1,268,310,000 after buying an additional 1,717,762 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its position in Comcast by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 15,983,230 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $667,620,000 after purchasing an additional 822,936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its position in Comcast by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 14,918,501 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $623,146,000 after purchasing an additional 676,920 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value 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 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Benchmark dropped their price objective on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. BNP Paribas upgraded Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.13.

Comcast Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $36.48 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68. Comcast Co. has a 1 year low of $32.50 and a 1 year high of $45.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.79, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.62.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. Equities analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. Comcast’s payout ratio is 31.81%.

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.