Hartford Funds Management Co LLC Acquires 1,306 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Hartford Funds Management Co LLC lifted its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 8.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,272 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,306 shares during the period. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $721,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CMCSA. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the first quarter worth $773,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Comcast by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 272,668 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $11,820,000 after purchasing an additional 11,077 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC raised its stake in Comcast by 73.6% during the 1st quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 58,428 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,533,000 after purchasing an additional 24,764 shares during the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in Comcast by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 1,433,773 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $62,154,000 after purchasing an additional 23,324 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC raised its stake in Comcast by 16.6% during the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 39,393 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,708,000 after purchasing an additional 5,602 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Comcast Stock Down 0.1 %

CMCSA opened at $43.47 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.04. 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 twelve month low of $36.43 and a twelve month high of $47.11. The firm has a market cap of $166.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.69, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The business had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on CMCSA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Comcast from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.19.

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.