Kovack Advisors Inc. Grows Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 18.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 41,340 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,364 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,813,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in Comcast by 94.1% during the third quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 623 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new position in Comcast during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Lipe & Dalton bought a new position in Comcast during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. First Personal Financial Services bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Trading Up 1.8 %

CMCSA traded up $0.70 during trading on Friday, hitting $38.57. 29,783,241 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,514,964. Comcast Co. has a 1 year low of $36.43 and a 1 year high of $47.46. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.57. The firm has a market cap of $153.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.59.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 12.64%. The business had revenue of $30.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CMCSA. Redburn Atlantic lowered Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Comcast from $55.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. BNP Paribas reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.45.

Insider Activity

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

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.