Alberta Investment Management Corp Acquires 74,100 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Alberta Investment Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 204.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 110,400 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 74,100 shares during the period. Alberta Investment Management Corp’s holdings in Comcast were worth $4,143,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Taurus Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Comcast by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 9,125 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $381,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Comcast by 4.7% during the third quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,829 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Arvest Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 1.0% during the third quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. now owns 27,211 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,137,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 14.8% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 2,183 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the period. Finally, Mengis Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 1.5% in the third quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,060 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $796,000 after purchasing an additional 283 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 research firms have issued reports on CMCSA. Bank of America lowered shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Pivotal Research boosted their target price on Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,779,218.91. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Comcast Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Comcast stock opened at $36.41 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.60. The stock has a market cap of $137.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.77, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a 12-month low of $32.50 and a 12-month high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.88%.

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.