Short Interest in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Rises By 7.0%

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 53,500,000 shares, a growth of 7.0% from the December 31st total of 49,990,000 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 19,710,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Insider Transactions 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 stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Comcast

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. South Dakota Investment Council lifted its position in Comcast by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 729,186 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $27,366,000 after acquiring an additional 70,300 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at about $859,000. World Equity Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. World Equity Group Inc. now owns 17,601 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $661,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Comcast by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 7,877 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $296,000 after acquiring an additional 1,413 shares during the period. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Comcast by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 126,353 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,742,000 after acquiring an additional 3,910 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMCSA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank lowered shares of Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.13.

Comcast Trading Down 0.1 %

CMCSA stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $33.15. 9,572,716 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 26,136,020. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $38.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.83 billion, a PE ratio of 7.99, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.68. Comcast has a one year low of $32.50 and a one year high of $45.38.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Equities research analysts expect that Comcast will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 29.88%.

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.