Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Short Interest Down 5.6% in November

Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 57,850,000 shares, a drop of 5.6% from the October 31st total of 61,280,000 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 18,590,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Insider Activity

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 completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Company insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Comcast

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in Comcast in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Comcast in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 204.7% during the 2nd quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Comcast by 365.4% during the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Comcast in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of CMCSA opened at $43.29 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $165.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.64, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Comcast has a 1-year low of $36.43 and a 1-year high of $47.11. The company has a 50-day moving average of $42.29 and a 200 day moving average of $40.18.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Comcast will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s payout ratio is 33.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CMCSA. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com upgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.19.

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.