Hennessy Advisors Inc. Has $5.52 Million Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 31.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 149,600 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 35,500 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $5,520,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at $743,681,000. Bfsg LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 752.8% during the 4th quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 83,366 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,129,000 after acquiring an additional 73,590 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 43,509 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,633,000 after acquiring an additional 3,344 shares during the period. Aviva PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 2,327,702 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $87,359,000 after acquiring an additional 156,986 shares during the period. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 34,101,077 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,279,813,000 after acquiring an additional 2,270,186 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Comcast Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $35.01 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a one year low of $31.44 and a one year high of $45.31. The company has a 50 day moving average of $34.46 and a 200-day moving average of $36.11. 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 $130.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.95.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The cable giant reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $29.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.82 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on CMCSA. UBS Group set a $44.50 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $37.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Comcast from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.10.

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.