Simmons Bank Purchases 20,739 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Simmons Bank grew its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 48.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 63,112 shares of the cable giant's stock after purchasing an additional 20,739 shares during the period. Simmons Bank's holdings in Comcast were worth $2,767,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in Comcast by 51.8% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 25,244 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $1,107,000 after purchasing an additional 8,619 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 39.4% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 103,840 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $4,553,000 after acquiring an additional 29,359 shares in the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 59,992 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $2,631,000 after acquiring an additional 1,607 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 348,616 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $15,287,000 after acquiring an additional 17,517 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 46,347 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $2,032,000 after acquiring an additional 8,936 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on CMCSA. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Comcast from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com downgraded Comcast from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Comcast from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $49.60.

Comcast Price Performance

CMCSA remained flat at $38.49 on Tuesday. 30,572,214 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,058,799. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.29. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $36.43 and a twelve month high of $47.46. The firm has a market cap of $151.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.92 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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