Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Shares Purchased by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 7.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 106,836 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,125 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $4,631,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Advisor Resource Council increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 75.1% during the first quarter. Advisor Resource Council now owns 9,615 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $421,000 after acquiring an additional 4,123 shares in the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Comcast by 44.9% in the first quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 59,891 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,596,000 after buying an additional 18,551 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC boosted its position in Comcast by 2,120.4% in the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 406,562 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $17,624,000 after buying an additional 388,252 shares during the last quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. boosted its position in Comcast by 3.7% in the first quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. now owns 53,162 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,305,000 after buying an additional 1,880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lake Street Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Comcast by 10.4% in the first quarter. Lake Street Private Wealth LLC now owns 80,034 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,469,000 after buying an additional 7,518 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of CMCSA traded up $0.20 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $38.05. The company had a trading volume of 7,657,993 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,241,990. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $36.43 and a 1-year high of $47.46. The stock has a market cap of $149.29 billion, a PE ratio of 10.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 12.64%. The business had revenue of $30.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.83 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd. Comcast’s payout ratio is 32.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $47.25 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Comcast from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Monday, May 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Corp Comcast sold 3,176,923 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.19, for a total transaction of $10,134,384.37. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,000,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,380,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

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.