Welch Group LLC Buys 700 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Welch Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 12.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,375 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $250,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Archford Capital Strategies LLC increased its position in Comcast by 10.0% in the second quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 31,625 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,238,000 after purchasing an additional 2,878 shares during the period. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Comcast by 314.0% during the 2nd quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,483 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $254,000 after buying an additional 4,917 shares during the period. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. grew its position in shares of Comcast by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 5,488 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $215,000 after buying an additional 516 shares during the period. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 10.6% during the second quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,447 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $448,000 after buying an additional 1,101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forza Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Comcast by 2.0% in the second quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,530 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $608,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $44.00 target price on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Comcast from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Pivotal Research dropped their price objective on Comcast from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Corp Comcast sold 3,176,923 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.19, for a total value of $10,134,384.37. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,380,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of Comcast stock traded up $0.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $39.66. 4,014,469 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,271,451. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $36.43 and a 1-year high of $47.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $38.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.09. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.17% and a net margin of 12.46%. The business had revenue of $29.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.80%.

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.