Russell Investments Group Ltd. Acquires 385,489 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,304,415 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 385,489 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $189,165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Everett Harris & Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Everett Harris & Co. CA now owns 1,687,406 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $73,993,000 after buying an additional 121,279 shares during the last quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Comcast by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 101,182 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,438,000 after acquiring an additional 1,486 shares during the period. Altus Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in Comcast by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 18,761 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $823,000 after acquiring an additional 1,432 shares during the period. PFG Advisors raised its holdings in Comcast by 28.8% in the 4th quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 23,073 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 5,159 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new position in Comcast in the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,868,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 114,749 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total transaction of $5,289,928.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Comcast Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of CMCSA stock traded up $0.70 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $38.57. 29,783,241 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,514,964. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.57. The stock has a market cap of $153.19 billion, a PE ratio of 10.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.98. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business had revenue of $30.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.92 earnings per share. Comcast’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Comcast from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $55.00 to $53.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.45.

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.