Empirical Asset Management LLC Buys Shares of 22,452 Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 22,452 shares of the cable giant’s stock, valued at approximately $843,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Comcast in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Comcast by 269.9% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the period. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Comcast by 365.4% during the 3rd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Comcast during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Comcast by 220.3% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 759 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Stock Up 0.7 %

CMCSA opened at $36.58 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $139.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.83, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.16. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $36.15 and a twelve month high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The company’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 33.33%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $284,539,128.48. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CMCSA. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.33.

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.