Pacer Advisors Inc. Lowers Holdings in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Pacer Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 10.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 14,071,352 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 1,606,518 shares during the quarter. Comcast makes up about 0.6% of Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $403,989,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter worth $2,498,626,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Comcast by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 140,343,399 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,194,929,000 after buying an additional 24,166,881 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Comcast by 65.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 55,664,933 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,663,825,000 after buying an additional 21,958,603 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its position in Comcast by 824.4% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 11,616,490 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $333,509,000 after buying an additional 10,359,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in Comcast by 4.6% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore lifted their price target on shares of Comcast from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Comcast in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Comcast from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $31.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.96.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $23.96 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $85.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $23.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.10. Comcast Corporation has a 1-year low of $21.28 and a 1-year high of $34.45.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $29.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.24 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 8.97% and a return on equity of 14.77%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Comcast Corporation will post 3.52 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 7th will be paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 7th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. Comcast’s payout ratio is 42.72%.

Comcast Company 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.