iA Global Asset Management Inc. Buys 50,497 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 11.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 503,013 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,497 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $18,878,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Comcast during the 4th quarter worth about $743,681,000. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 147.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 24,086,671 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $895,499,000 after buying an additional 14,369,056 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 55,334.5% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $345,565,000 after buying an additional 8,258,128 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 5.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,904,647,000 after buying an additional 6,062,658 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 530.5% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,429,298 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $143,242,000 after buying an additional 2,885,370 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Comcast Price Performance

Comcast stock opened at $36.09 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $35.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.11. Comcast Co. has a 1 year low of $32.50 and a 1 year high of $45.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68.

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

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.66%. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on CMCSA shares. BNP Paribas raised shares of Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Macquarie cut their price target on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.83.

Comcast 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.