Comcast Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 233,377 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 466% compared to the average volume of 41,269 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CMCSA. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Comcast during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,528,361,000. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 18.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 111,272,320 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,971,309,000 after purchasing an additional 17,054,579 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 46.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,706,330 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,059,053,000 after buying an additional 10,633,206 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Comcast by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 180,687,135 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,677,190,000 after buying an additional 7,917,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP raised its stake in Comcast by 1,356.2% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 6,556,098 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $205,993,000 after buying an additional 6,105,867 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $43.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Comcast from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Citigroup cut their target price on Comcast from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on Comcast from $38.00 to $32.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Comcast from $34.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.85.

Comcast Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $30.27 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $28.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.68. Comcast has a 52-week low of $25.75 and a 52-week high of $38.46.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 13th. The cable giant reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $30.34 billion for the quarter. Comcast had a return on equity of 18.06% and a net margin of 18.33%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 14th will be given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 14th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.96%.

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.