Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Buys 60,226 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 16.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 427,294 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 60,226 shares during the period. Comcast accounts for approximately 1.8% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $16,036,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ingalls & Snyder LLC grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 34,564 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281 shares in the last quarter. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Signet Investment Advisory Group Inc. now owns 41,653 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,563,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247 shares in the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter worth approximately $294,000. Balentine LLC grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 12,144 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $456,000 after purchasing an additional 3,055 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peterson Wealth Services grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 37,908 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,423,000 after purchasing an additional 1,553 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank lowered Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup decreased their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.13.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $34.90 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $37.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.82. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $32.50 and a 52 week high of $45.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.96 billion, a PE ratio of 8.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is 29.88%.

Insider Activity at Comcast

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the transaction, the president now owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

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.