Comcast Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors bought 40,917 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 124% compared to the typical volume of 18,235 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.33.

Insider Activity

In other Comcast news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Comcast

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 904.0% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $10,632,000 after buying an additional 229,192 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 15.2% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 171,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $7,161,000 after purchasing an additional 22,684 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 3.7% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,920,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $80,232,000 after purchasing an additional 68,139 shares in the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 0.7% in the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $92,331,000 after purchasing an additional 15,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Comcast in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,541,000. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $37.42. The company had a trading volume of 7,019,862 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,917,594. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.14. Comcast has a 12 month low of $36.15 and a 12 month high of $47.11. The firm has a market cap of $143.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.06, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.01.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The business had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Comcast will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.