Essential Planning LLC. Acquires Shares of 162,638 Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Essential Planning LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 162,638 shares of the cable giant's stock, valued at approximately $6,750,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 904.0% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $10,632,000 after acquiring an additional 229,192 shares during the last quarter. Bfsg LLC boosted 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 valued at $3,129,000 after acquiring an additional 73,590 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at about $743,681,000. Mission Wealth Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 43,509 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $1,633,000 after buying an additional 3,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robinson Value Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 136.7% in the fourth quarter. Robinson Value Management Ltd. now owns 102,360 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $3,842,000 after buying an additional 59,107 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of research reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of Comcast from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Comcast from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank cut shares of Comcast from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Macquarie decreased their target price on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $43.83.

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Comcast Stock Performance

CMCSA opened at $35.95 on Wednesday. Comcast Co. has a 52-week low of $32.50 and a 52-week high of $45.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $135.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $36.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.29.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. This is a positive change from Comcast's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast's dividend payout ratio is currently 31.81%.

Comcast Company 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.

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