Successful Portfolios LLC Buys 1,197 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Successful Portfolios LLC raised its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 26.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,710 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,197 shares during the period. Successful Portfolios LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $250,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. State Street Corp raised its position in Comcast by 1.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 160,119,465 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $6,652,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,952,552 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Comcast by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 53,653,778 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,876,273,000 after acquiring an additional 7,084,451 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,798,173,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 0.3% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 46,019,891 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,040,522,000 after purchasing an additional 141,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Comcast by 0.4% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 42,448,741 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,245,022,000 after acquiring an additional 189,845 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CMCSA shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Comcast from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $44.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Citigroup raised their price target on Comcast from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Comcast from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 22nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Comcast has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Comcast news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 114,749 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total transaction of $5,289,928.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $43.35. The stock had a trading volume of 19,376,180 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,255,143. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.22. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $36.38 and a 52 week high of $47.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.98.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The cable giant reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.04. Comcast had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 19.75%. The firm had revenue of $31.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.41 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. Comcast’s payout ratio is 31.18%.

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.