Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Short Interest Update

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

Insider Transactions at Comcast

In related news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Comcast

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Comcast by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,715 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $477,000 after purchasing an additional 1,040 shares during the period. Apeiron RIA LLC bought a new position in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter worth approximately $637,000. Secure Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter worth $246,000. Red Door Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Comcast by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,244 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $384,000 after buying an additional 1,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Donoghue Forlines LLC purchased a new stake in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at $1,493,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CMCSA. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Comcast from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Evercore ISI raised Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.33.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA traded up $0.27 on Friday, hitting $36.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 21,859,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,748,178. Comcast has a 1 year low of $36.15 and a 1 year high of $47.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $139.97 billion, a PE ratio of 9.83, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.18.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Comcast will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.39%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.33%.

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.