Montecito Bank & Trust Makes New Investment in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Montecito Bank & Trust bought a new position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 7,104 shares of the cable giant’s stock, valued at approximately $297,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Duality Advisers LP purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast during the 1st quarter worth $436,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 111.7% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 53,442 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $2,317,000 after purchasing an additional 28,198 shares during the last quarter. PFG Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 27,686 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 4,613 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 611,965 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $26,529,000 after purchasing an additional 24,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 1,200,028 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $52,021,000 after purchasing an additional 192,100 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Comcast Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of CMCSA opened at $44.19 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $171.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.88, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $41.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $36.43 and a 52 week high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The business had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their target price on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank raised 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 report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.75.

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.