Argyle Capital Management LLC Purchases 6,350 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Argyle Capital Management LLC raised its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 12.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 56,386 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,350 shares during the period. Argyle Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $2,116,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc raised its position in Comcast by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Van Cleef Asset Management Inc now owns 286,186 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $10,741,000 after acquiring an additional 19,127 shares during the period. A&I Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter worth $216,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Comcast by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 690,482 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $25,914,000 after purchasing an additional 7,278 shares during the period. Brueske Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Comcast during the fourth quarter valued at $244,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in Comcast during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,374,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Macquarie dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.83.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $35.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The company has a market cap of $133.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a 1 year low of $32.50 and a 1 year high of $45.31. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.49.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.81%.

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.