Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Acquires 21,881 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 575,993 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,881 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $25,257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sfmg LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 101,022 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,430,000 after acquiring an additional 2,581 shares during the last quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in Comcast by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors now owns 17,647 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $774,000 after acquiring an additional 1,309 shares during the last quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC now owns 120,177 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,542,000 after buying an additional 29,555 shares during the last quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at $955,000. Finally, Arbor Trust Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Comcast by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Arbor Trust Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 19,300 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $846,000 after acquiring an additional 2,205 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 114,749 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total transaction of $5,289,928.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $38.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 20,449,255 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,682,635. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $41.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $154.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.98. Comcast Co. has a one year low of $36.38 and a one year high of $47.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $31.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.41 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.75% and a net margin of 12.66%. On average, research analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is 33.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CMCSA. StockNews.com cut Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $55.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Redburn Atlantic cut Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.50.

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.