Wealth Alliance Has $1.95 Million Stock Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Wealth Alliance grew its position in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,505 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,010 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,952,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 53,653,778 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,876,273,000 after purchasing an additional 7,084,451 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,798,173,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 46,019,891 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $2,040,522,000 after purchasing an additional 141,874 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 42,448,741 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,245,022,000 after purchasing an additional 189,845 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 42,441,142 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,987,094,000 after purchasing an additional 473,150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Comcast

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 114,749 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total transaction of $5,289,928.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com cut Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Redburn Atlantic cut Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $50.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on Comcast from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.50.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA traded down $0.27 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $39.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,993,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,569,959. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.83. The company has a market capitalization of $155.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.60, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $36.38 and a twelve month high of $47.46.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $31.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.41 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.75% and a net margin of 12.66%. On average, analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 2nd. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.33%.

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.