Merit Financial Group LLC Buys 50,100 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 75.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 116,727 shares of the cable giant's stock after purchasing an additional 50,100 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Comcast were worth $4,307,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Comcast during the 4th quarter worth $743,681,000. Bfsg LLC raised its position in shares of Comcast by 752.8% during the fourth quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 83,366 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $3,129,000 after acquiring an additional 73,590 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP raised its position in shares of Comcast by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 43,509 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $1,633,000 after acquiring an additional 3,344 shares during the last quarter. Robinson Value Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Comcast by 136.7% in the fourth quarter. Robinson Value Management Ltd. now owns 102,360 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $3,842,000 after acquiring an additional 59,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Management Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Comcast by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 855,787 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $32,118,000 after acquiring an additional 24,827 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on CMCSA. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Comcast from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BNP Paribas cut shares of Comcast from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $31.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group set a $44.50 price target on Comcast in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut Comcast from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.10.

Comcast Stock Up 1.4%

NASDAQ:CMCSA traded up $0.48 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $34.70. 13,753,001 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,033,762. The stock has a market cap of $129.56 billion, a PE ratio of 8.36, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.97. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $31.44 and a twelve month high of $45.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $34.43 and a 200 day moving average of $36.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The cable giant reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The business had revenue of $29.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.04 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 2nd. Comcast's payout ratio 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.