Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. Acquires New Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,190 shares of the cable giant’s stock, valued at approximately $45,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at $3,835,226,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 34,101,077 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,279,813,000 after buying an additional 2,270,186 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 32,709,601 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,227,591,000 after acquiring an additional 838,366 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in shares of Comcast by 147.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 24,086,671 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $895,499,000 after acquiring an additional 14,369,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Comcast during the fourth quarter worth about $743,681,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CMCSA shares. StockNews.com upgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Benchmark dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.64.

Comcast Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $36.62 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.99. Comcast Co. has a 1 year low of $32.50 and a 1 year high of $45.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $138.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is 31.81%.

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.