Virtu Financial LLC Makes New $5.04 Million Investment in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 134,158 shares of the cable giant’s stock, valued at approximately $5,035,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 269.9% in the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Comcast during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Comcast in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Comcast during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CMCSA. Scotiabank lowered shares of Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.83.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $36.75 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $35.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.08. The firm has a market cap of $138.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $32.50 and a 1-year high of $45.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. Equities research analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is 31.81%.

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.