Independent Advisor Alliance Grows Stock Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Independent Advisor Alliance grew its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 36.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 94,621 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,192 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Comcast were worth $3,551,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Comcast by 269.9% during the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast during the third quarter worth $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on CMCSA shares. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank cut shares of Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.83.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of CMCSA opened at $35.19 on Thursday. Comcast Co. has a 52-week low of $32.50 and a 52-week high of $45.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $36.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.05 billion, a PE ratio of 8.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.75%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.81%.

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.