Russell Investments Group Ltd. Grows Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,304,415 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 385,489 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.11% of Comcast worth $189,165,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. NewSquare Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 94.1% in the 3rd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 623 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 299.1% in the 4th quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 634,727 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 475,675 shares during the period. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Lipe & Dalton acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, First Personal Financial Services acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMCSA has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $47.25 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Comcast from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.45.

Comcast Stock Up 1.8 %

NASDAQ CMCSA traded up $0.70 on Friday, hitting $38.57. 29,783,241 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,514,964. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $41.58 and a 200 day moving average of $42.57. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $36.43 and a twelve month high of $47.46. The company has a market capitalization of $153.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 12.64%. The firm had revenue of $30.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. Comcast’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 114,749 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total transaction of $5,289,928.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Comcast 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.