Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 73,500 shares of the cable giant’s stock, valued at approximately $2,758,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Boston Financial Mangement LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 18,733 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $703,000 after buying an additional 382 shares during the last quarter. Advyzon Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Comcast during the fourth quarter worth approximately $300,000. Sunpointe LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 34.1% during the fourth quarter. Sunpointe LLC now owns 10,245 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $385,000 after buying an additional 2,607 shares during the last quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 41,488 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,557,000 after buying an additional 3,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cumberland Partners Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Comcast during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,032,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at $22,779,218.91. The trade was 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMCSA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America downgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.13.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of CMCSA opened at $36.48 on Thursday. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $32.50 and a 12 month high of $45.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.79, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is 31.81%.

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.