V Square Quantitative Management LLC Has $3.60 Million Stock Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 96,036 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 7,011 shares during the quarter. Comcast accounts for about 0.5% of V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $3,604,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. Winch Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Comcast by 269.9% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 220.3% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 759 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.13.

Comcast Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of CMCSA opened at $35.38 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.68. Comcast Co. has a 52-week low of $32.50 and a 52-week high of $45.31. The company has a market cap of $133.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. Analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.33 dividend. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.88%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value 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 approximately $284,539,128.48. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction 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 $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % 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 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.