Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Grows Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 7.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 152,282 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,502 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $6,361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 7.0% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 218,467 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $9,471,000 after purchasing an additional 14,247 shares in the last quarter. MAI Capital Management boosted its stake in Comcast by 39.5% during the first quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 313,283 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $13,581,000 after buying an additional 88,719 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Comcast in the 1st quarter worth about $1,932,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the first quarter valued at about $1,352,000. Finally, Dearborn Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 9,748 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $423,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

Comcast stock opened at $44.31 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $41.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.75. The firm has a market cap of $169.55 billion, a PE ratio of 11.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. 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 announced its earnings results 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. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The business had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued 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 2.80%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on CMCSA shares. StockNews.com lowered Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Barclays increased their price target on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank raised Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.