EP Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 127,144 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 989,106 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 127,144 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $41,315,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in Comcast during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Comcast in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. increased 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 worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Comcast by 220.3% in the third 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 last quarter. Finally, IAG Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 204.7% during the 2nd quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI raised Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Scotiabank upgraded Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp raised their target price on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Macquarie increased their price target on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.19.

Insider Activity

In other Comcast news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the transaction, the president now owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,779,218.91. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

CMCSA stock opened at $43.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $36.43 and a 52 week high of $47.11. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $42.45 and its 200 day moving average is $40.26. The firm has a market cap of $165.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.99.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.