Mechanics Financial Corp Buys Shares of 1,718 Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Mechanics Financial Corp purchased a new position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,718 shares of the cable giant’s stock, valued at approximately $64,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,292,000. DnB Asset Management AS increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 760,432 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $28,539,000 after purchasing an additional 20,312 shares during the last quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC purchased a new position in Comcast during the fourth quarter worth approximately $233,000. denkapparat Operations GmbH acquired a new position in Comcast during the fourth quarter worth $709,000. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Comcast by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 203,695 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $7,645,000 after buying an additional 5,666 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $36.62 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $32.50 and a 52 week high of $45.31. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $138.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.60%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank cut shares of Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Benchmark decreased their target price on shares of Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Comcast from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.64.

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.