Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Has $7.70 Million Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 19.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 184,302 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,558 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $7,698,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Comcast by 4.5% during the second quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,027 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,411,000 after acquiring an additional 1,550 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank raised its stake in Comcast by 8.9% during the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 191,846 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $7,513,000 after acquiring an additional 15,664 shares in the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its stake in Comcast by 0.7% during the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $92,331,000 after acquiring an additional 15,807 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in Comcast by 3,816.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 558,382 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $21,866,000 after acquiring an additional 544,123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Comcast during the first quarter worth $773,000. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMCSA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Comcast from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.75.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of CMCSA opened at $44.04 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $168.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $41.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.75. Comcast Co. has a 1 year low of $36.43 and a 1 year high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Comcast’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.33%.

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.