Advisor Resource Council Grows Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Advisor Resource Council boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 75.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,615 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,123 shares during the period. Advisor Resource Council’s holdings in Comcast were worth $421,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Steph & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 154.6% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 611 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. increased its stake in Comcast by 299.1% during the 4th quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 634,727 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 475,675 shares in the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A purchased a new position in Comcast in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 336.9% during the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 769 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 593 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Comcast news, major shareholder Corp Comcast sold 3,176,923 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.19, for a total value of $10,134,384.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,000,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,380,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Macquarie dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $43.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $47.25 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.53.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $38.05 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.46. The stock has a market cap of $149.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.07, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50 day moving average is $38.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.26.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The cable giant reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The firm had revenue of $30.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.83 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.80%.

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.