Uncommon Cents Investing LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Uncommon Cents Investing LLC boosted its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 72,369 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,225 shares during the period. Comcast comprises approximately 1.1% of Uncommon Cents Investing LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $3,173,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in Comcast by 1.9% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 160,119,465 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $6,652,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,952,552 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 53,653,778 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,876,273,000 after buying an additional 7,084,451 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,798,173,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 0.3% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 46,019,891 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,040,522,000 after buying an additional 141,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 0.4% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 42,448,741 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,245,022,000 after buying an additional 189,845 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $50.00 to $44.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Comcast from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Tuesday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.68.

Comcast Price Performance

Comcast stock opened at $43.35 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a 52-week low of $36.38 and a 52-week high of $47.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $43.09 and a 200-day moving average of $43.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.65, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.04. Comcast had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 19.75%. The company had revenue of $31.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.41 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 3rd will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.18%.

Insider Activity at Comcast

In other Comcast news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 114,749 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total transaction of $5,289,928.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Comcast

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.