Highland Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Highland Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 235,503 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,711 shares during the quarter. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $10,327,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. increased its stake in Comcast by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 15,458 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $724,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the period. United Bank grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 17.4% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 37,271 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,745,000 after purchasing an additional 5,532 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 29.6% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,063,697 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $190,261,000 after purchasing an additional 928,627 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 104.4% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,472 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $163,000 after purchasing an additional 1,773 shares during the period. Finally, First Western Trust Bank acquired a new position in shares of Comcast during the 1st quarter worth $482,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 114,749 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total value of $5,289,928.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CMCSA shares. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 13th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Comcast from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Comcast presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.68.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $43.07 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $43.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.22. The firm has a market cap of $171.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.58, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.98. Comcast Co. has a 52-week low of $36.35 and a 52-week high of $47.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $31.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.41 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.75% and a net margin of 12.66%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 31.18%.

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.