Verity & Verity LLC Acquires 40,616 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Verity & Verity LLC grew its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 11.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 384,824 shares of the cable giant's stock after purchasing an additional 40,616 shares during the quarter. Verity & Verity LLC's holdings in Comcast were worth $14,442,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,779,218.91. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Comcast from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Comcast from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley cut Comcast from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $48.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Comcast from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Comcast currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.33.

Comcast Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $36.58. The stock had a trading volume of 21,859,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,748,178. The company has a market cap of $139.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.83, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The business's 50 day moving average is $39.97 and its 200-day moving average is $40.18. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $36.15 and a 52 week high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $31.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Comcast's revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. Comcast's payout ratio 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.