Rafferty Asset Management LLC Increases Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 13.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 667,568 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 76,783 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $25,054,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 269.9% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $36.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Monday, April 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Macquarie lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $37.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.10.

Comcast Trading Up 2.2%

Comcast stock opened at $35.33 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $131.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.51, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.97. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $31.44 and a fifty-two week high of $45.31. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $34.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.38. 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 (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The cable giant reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $29.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.82 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast 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.