Hickory Asset Management Inc. Acquires New Shares in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Hickory Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 7,171 shares of the cable giant’s stock, valued at approximately $269,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CMCSA. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Comcast by 269.9% during the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Comcast during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Comcast by 365.4% during the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 220.3% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 759 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 522 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America lowered shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.13.

Comcast Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $35.39 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $37.08 and its 200-day moving average is $39.76. The stock has a market cap of $133.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $32.50 and a twelve month high of $45.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Equities research analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.33 dividend. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 29.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

In other news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the business’s 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 owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

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.