Citizens & Northern Corp Raises Stock Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Citizens & Northern Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 44,927 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,065 shares during the period. Citizens & Northern Corp’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CMCSA. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 904.0% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $10,632,000 after buying an additional 229,192 shares during the period. Robinson Value Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 136.7% during the fourth quarter. Robinson Value Management Ltd. now owns 102,360 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,842,000 after purchasing an additional 59,107 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 22,684 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. grew its stake in Comcast by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 855,787 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $32,118,000 after acquiring an additional 24,827 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC raised its position in Comcast by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,920,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $80,232,000 after purchasing an additional 68,139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on CMCSA. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Benchmark dropped their target price on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.13.

Comcast Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of Comcast stock opened at $35.39 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a 12-month low of $32.50 and a 12-month high of $45.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current 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 given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.