Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Purchases 2,806 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,213,275 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,806 shares during the quarter. Comcast makes up approximately 1.2% of Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $83,064,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Comcast by 348.6% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 481,001 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $18,832,000 after purchasing an additional 373,779 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 186.2% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 44,618 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,747,000 after acquiring an additional 29,026 shares during the period. Prudential PLC boosted its holdings in Comcast by 26.0% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 195,629 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $7,661,000 after acquiring an additional 40,379 shares during the period. Finally, Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 5.2% in the second quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC now owns 19,077 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $747,000 after purchasing an additional 943 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on CMCSA shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded Comcast from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $45.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Comcast from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.33.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $37.06. 14,609,511 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,158,934. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.29. The company has a market cap of $141.81 billion, a PE ratio of 9.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.01. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $36.24 and a twelve month high of $47.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Comcast’s payout ratio is 33.33%.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

In other news, 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 value of $1,087,620.83. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, 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. Company 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.