Harvest Investment Services LLC Makes New Investment in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Harvest Investment Services LLC purchased a new position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 7,458 shares of the cable giant's stock, valued at approximately $280,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Comcast in the 4th quarter worth about $3,835,226,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Comcast in the 4th quarter worth about $743,681,000. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 147.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 24,086,671 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $895,499,000 after purchasing an additional 14,369,056 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 141,680,277 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $5,317,167,000 after buying an additional 11,255,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 55,334.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $345,565,000 after buying an additional 8,258,128 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on CMCSA shares. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Comcast from $37.00 to $35.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Comcast from $55.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Comcast from an "equal weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Benchmark reduced their target price on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $41.88.

Comcast Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $33.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,395,234 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,763,862. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $127.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $35.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.03. Comcast Co. has a one year low of $31.44 and a one year high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The cable giant reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $29.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.82 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.91%. This is a boost from Comcast's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.43%.

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.