Private Advisor Group LLC Boosts Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 348,616 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 17,517 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $15,287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. WealthShield Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC now owns 37,293 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,654,000 after purchasing an additional 5,257 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 46,392 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,057,000 after buying an additional 9,198 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Comcast by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,482,060 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $64,396,000 after acquiring an additional 107,687 shares during the last quarter. First Merchants Corp raised its stake in Comcast by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 226,957 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $10,063,000 after acquiring an additional 7,539 shares during the period. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in Comcast by 2.9% during the third quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 864,118 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $38,315,000 after purchasing an additional 24,116 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Comcast from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Redburn Atlantic cut Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $44.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $47.25 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Comcast has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.60.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ CMCSA traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $38.49. 32,164,810 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,949,441. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.32. Comcast Co. has a 1 year low of $36.43 and a 1 year high of $47.46. The company has a market cap of $151.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.99.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $30.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.83 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 12.64%. Comcast’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.92 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.