Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Shares Bought by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 62.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,617 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,285 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,717,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealthspire Advisors LLC grew its position in Comcast by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 60,650 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,659,000 after buying an additional 2,781 shares during the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter worth $2,056,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 115,503 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,065,000 after purchasing an additional 10,936 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 11,304,304 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $495,694,000 after purchasing an additional 368,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 32,983 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,446,000 after buying an additional 5,351 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $47.25 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $44.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.78.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ CMCSA traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $39.62. The company had a trading volume of 14,170,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,335,717. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.43 and a fifty-two week high of $47.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.23. The firm has a market cap of $155.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.09. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.17% and a net margin of 12.46%. The company had revenue of $29.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Comcast

In related news, major shareholder Corp Comcast sold 3,176,923 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.19, for a total value of $10,134,384.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,000,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,380,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.26% 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.