Colonial Trust Advisors Buys 1,864 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Colonial Trust Advisors lifted its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 150,044 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,864 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Advisors’ holdings in Comcast were worth $5,631,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Phoenix Financial Ltd. boosted its position in Comcast by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 45,442 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,706,000 after buying an additional 3,771 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Comcast by 31.4% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,520,213 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $94,584,000 after buying an additional 601,657 shares during the period. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its position in Comcast by 629.9% in the 4th quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 3,791,412 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $137,414,000 after buying an additional 3,271,996 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC boosted its position in Comcast by 25.2% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 72,912 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,736,000 after buying an additional 14,671 shares during the period. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its position in Comcast by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 556,273 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $20,877,000 after buying an additional 28,527 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Bank of America lowered shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Comcast from $44.50 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.10.

Comcast Stock Up 7.1 %

CMCSA stock opened at $35.18 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.02 billion, a PE ratio of 8.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $32.20 and a 12 month high of $45.31. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.66.

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

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 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.