Griffin Asset Management Inc. Grows Stock Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,120 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 425 shares during the quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $786,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Steph & Co. boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 154.6% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 611 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. boosted its holdings in Comcast by 299.1% during the fourth quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 634,727 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 475,675 shares in the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A acquired a new position in Comcast during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 336.9% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 769 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 593 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

In related news, major shareholder Corp Comcast sold 3,176,923 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.19, for a total transaction of $10,134,384.37. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,380,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on CMCSA. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup cut their price target on Comcast from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Comcast in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $44.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.62.

Comcast Trading Up 2.3 %

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $39.16 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $38.71 and a 200-day moving average of $41.39. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.46. The company has a market cap of $153.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The cable giant reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $30.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.83 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 20.10%. Comcast’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 3rd. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 32.80%.

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.