Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CMCSA shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. BNP Paribas upgraded Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI upgraded Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Macquarie reduced their target price on Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.13.

Comcast Trading Down 1.4 %

CMCSA opened at $33.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $127.00 billion, a PE ratio of 8.00, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The business has a 50 day moving average of $38.61 and a 200-day moving average of $40.07. Comcast has a 52 week low of $32.50 and a 52 week high of $45.38.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. Equities research analysts predict that Comcast will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.98%. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 29.88%.

Insider Activity at Comcast

In other Comcast news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was 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 directly owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 904.0% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $10,632,000 after purchasing an additional 229,192 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 171,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $7,161,000 after purchasing an additional 22,684 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,920,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $80,232,000 after purchasing an additional 68,139 shares in the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 0.7% in the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $92,331,000 after acquiring an additional 15,807 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Comcast during the third quarter valued at $2,541,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

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.