Vest Financial LLC Purchases 6,214 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Vest Financial LLC grew its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 19.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 38,937 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,214 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,461,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Winch Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Comcast by 269.9% during the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 502 shares during the period. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Comcast by 365.4% during the 3rd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Comcast in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 220.3% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 759 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 54.8% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 814 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

In related news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the sale, the president now owns 534,849 shares in the company, 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 at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI raised shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BNP Paribas raised Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Macquarie dropped their price target on Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Ten 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.13.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $34.37 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $37.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $129.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a one year low of $32.50 and a one year high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. Equities analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders 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 3.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.88%.

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.