Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Increases Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 721,252 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 107,755 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $27,858,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in Comcast in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Comcast in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Comcast by 204.7% in the 2nd quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 522 shares during the period. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Comcast by 365.4% in the 3rd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Comcast in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CMCSA. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

In other news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This 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.

Comcast Stock Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $42.79 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $36.43 and a 52 week high of $47.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.26. The firm has a market cap of $163.74 billion, a PE ratio of 11.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.99.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. Comcast’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.33%.

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.