Easterly Investment Partners LLC Has $7.67 Million Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 204,408 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,377 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $7,671,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 269.9% in the fourth 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 period. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Comcast during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Benchmark lowered their target price on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price target on Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.64.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $37.37 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $141.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $35.87 and its 200 day moving average is $39.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $32.50 and a 1-year high of $45.31.

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

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a $0.33 dividend. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.81%.

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.