HTLF Bank Makes New Investment in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

HTLF Bank purchased a new position in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 16,031 shares of the cable giant’s stock, valued at approximately $703,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,798,173,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 121,265.4% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 25,530,426 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $892,799,000 after acquiring an additional 25,509,390 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 53,653,778 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,876,273,000 after acquiring an additional 7,084,451 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 62.6% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 15,271,853 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $715,028,000 after acquiring an additional 5,880,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 535.8% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,754,976 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $222,628,000 after acquiring an additional 4,007,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $40.24 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.71. The firm has a market cap of $159.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.82, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.60. Comcast Co. has a 52-week low of $36.38 and a 52-week high of $47.46.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.04. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.75% and a net margin of 12.66%. The company had revenue of $31.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.41 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Comcast

In related news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 114,749 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total transaction of $5,289,928.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CMCSA. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Comcast from $55.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Comcast from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.74.

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.