FORA Capital LLC Takes $8.78 Million Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

FORA Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 210,299 shares of the cable giant’s stock, valued at approximately $8,784,000. Comcast makes up about 1.0% of FORA Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Comcast by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $4,904,647,000 after purchasing an additional 6,062,658 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 92.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,722,620 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $339,223,000 after purchasing an additional 4,182,525 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Comcast in the 1st quarter valued at about $93,051,000. Darsana Capital Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 26.7% in the second quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 9,500,000 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $372,020,000 after buying an additional 2,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 211.7% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,890,571 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $120,739,000 after acquiring an additional 1,963,246 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CMCSA shares. Scotiabank raised Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Comcast from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research increased their price target on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI upgraded Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.19.

Comcast Price Performance

CMCSA stock traded up $0.23 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $42.87. The stock had a trading volume of 2,265,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,548,633. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 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.