Bank of Nova Scotia Raises Stock Position in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 149.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 976,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 585,787 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Comcast were worth $30,680,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Comcast by 39.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,055,192 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $37,954,000 after buying an additional 300,898 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Comcast by 0.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 369,438,921 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $13,185,275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,257,196 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Comcast by 9.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,536,937 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $236,810,000 after acquiring an additional 665,635 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Comcast by 75.3% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 340,764 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $10,707,000 after acquiring an additional 146,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. raised its position in Comcast by 3.5% during the third quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 952,154 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $29,917,000 after purchasing an additional 32,262 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Comcast

In other news, CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.66, for a total value of $1,892,549.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 622,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,325,493.76. This trade represents a 8.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CMCSA shares. UBS Group cut their price objective on Comcast from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. Arete Research set a $23.00 target price on Comcast in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Scotiabank cut their target price on Comcast from $37.50 to $35.25 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Barclays set a $28.00 price target on shares of Comcast and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.87.

Comcast Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $30.34 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $109.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.79. Comcast Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $25.75 and a fifty-two week high of $37.72. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.09. Comcast had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 16.17%.The firm had revenue of $32.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is 24.58%.

Comcast Profile

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is a diversified global media and technology company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its principal operations are organized around Comcast Cable, which provides broadband internet, video, voice and wireless services to residential and business customers in the United States under the Xfinity and Comcast Business brands, and NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment group that develops, produces and distributes content across broadcast and cable networks, film, and streaming platforms.

NBCUniversal’s assets include the NBC broadcast network, a portfolio of cable channels, Universal Pictures and other film and television production businesses, and the Peacock streaming service.