Avanza Fonder AB Invests $11.35 Million in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 302,341 shares of the cable giant’s stock, valued at approximately $11,347,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 904.0% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $10,632,000 after acquiring an additional 229,192 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 171,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $7,161,000 after buying an additional 22,684 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in Comcast by 3.7% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,920,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $80,232,000 after acquiring an additional 68,139 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Comcast by 0.7% in the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $92,331,000 after acquiring an additional 15,807 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Comcast in the third quarter worth about $2,541,000. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Comcast Stock Up 0.9 %

Comcast stock opened at $36.63 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $140.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.20. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $36.15 and a twelve month high of $47.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. Comcast’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp increased their target price on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Comcast from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.33.

Insider Activity

In related 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 transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Company 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.