First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Purchases 14,211 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its position in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 16.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 99,711 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,211 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $4,372,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. increased its position in Comcast by 40.8% during the 4th quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 214,143 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $9,390,000 after purchasing an additional 62,049 shares during the period. Searle & CO. increased its position in Comcast by 249.4% during the 4th quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 23,086 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 16,478 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners increased its position in Comcast by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 32,983 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,446,000 after purchasing an additional 5,351 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter worth about $123,000. Finally, Berry Wealth Group LP purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter worth about $2,804,000. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.60.

Comcast Stock Performance

CMCSA traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $38.20. 19,736,445 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,862,834. The company’s 50-day moving average is $41.47 and its 200 day moving average is $42.47. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $36.43 and a 52 week high of $47.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.73 billion, a PE ratio of 10.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.98.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The firm had revenue of $30.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.92 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.21 EPS for the current year.

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.