Magnetar Financial LLC Invests $5.90 Million in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 157,135 shares of the cable giant’s stock, valued at approximately $5,897,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its stake in Comcast by 14.8% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 2,183 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC raised its stake in Comcast by 54.8% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 814 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC raised its stake in Comcast by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 16,581 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $622,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. Five Oceans Advisors raised its stake in Comcast by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Five Oceans Advisors now owns 12,336 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Comcast by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 26,470 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $993,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CMCSA. Evercore ISI raised shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.83.

Comcast Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Comcast stock opened at $36.09 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68. Comcast Co. has a 52-week low of $32.50 and a 52-week high of $45.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $136.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $35.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Equities research analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s payout ratio is 31.81%.

About Comcast

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.