Sierra Ocean LLC Makes New Investment in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,727 shares of the cable giant’s stock, valued at approximately $65,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Taurus Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Comcast by 2.9% during the third quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 9,125 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 4.7% during the third quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,829 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 1.0% during the third quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. now owns 27,211 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,137,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its holdings in Comcast by 14.8% during the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 2,183 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $91,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mengis Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Comcast by 1.5% during the third quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,060 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $796,000 after buying an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp lifted their target price 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % 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.

Comcast Price Performance

CMCSA opened at $35.39 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.70. Comcast Co. has a 52-week low of $32.50 and a 52-week high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.88%.

About Comcast

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.