Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Increases Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. increased its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 14,423 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 763 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $632,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. NewSquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 94.1% during the 3rd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 623 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. lifted its stake in Comcast by 299.1% in the fourth quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 634,727 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 475,675 shares during the last quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Comcast during the third quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Comcast by 205.7% during the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 917 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:CMCSA traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $43.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,817,472 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,055,750. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $36.38 and a twelve month high of $47.46. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market cap of $172.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.98.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.04. Comcast had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 19.75%. The business had revenue of $31.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.41 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 31.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CMCSA. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Tuesday. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Comcast from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on shares of Comcast from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.68.

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.