Verity & Verity LLC Buys 41,392 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Verity & Verity LLC raised its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 10.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 426,216 shares of the cable giant's stock after buying an additional 41,392 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC's holdings in Comcast were worth $15,727,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Comcast by 150.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 166,265 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $6,240,000 after buying an additional 99,986 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its position in Comcast by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 9,501 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 1,342 shares in the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC acquired a new stake in Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $294,000. Ingalls & Snyder LLC boosted its position in Comcast by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 34,564 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $1,297,000 after buying an additional 1,281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sawgrass Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Comcast by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 427,294 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $16,036,000 after buying an additional 60,226 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CMCSA. Scotiabank restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $44.50 target price (down previously from $45.00) on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Comcast from $37.00 to $35.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Comcast from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, UBS Group set a $44.50 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.10.

Comcast Trading Down 0.7%

CMCSA stock traded down $0.26 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $35.01. The stock had a trading volume of 17,189,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,092,584. The firm has a market cap of $130.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $31.44 and a 1-year high of $45.31. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $34.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The cable giant reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $29.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.82 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Comcast's revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. Comcast's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.43%.

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.