Comcast Corporation $CMCSA Holdings Boosted by Bell Bank

Bell Bank boosted its holdings in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 13.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,928 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,082 shares during the period. Bell Bank’s holdings in Comcast were worth $319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in Comcast by 19.1% in the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 94,217,741 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,476,635,000 after acquiring an additional 15,115,074 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 2.8% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 33,636,264 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,240,955,000 after purchasing an additional 926,663 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the first quarter valued at approximately $940,015,000. Harris Associates L P increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 0.5% in the first quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 20,594,519 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $759,938,000 after purchasing an additional 111,662 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 2.2% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 20,243,358 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $746,980,000 after purchasing an additional 427,705 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on CMCSA. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Comcast from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.56.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $31.59 on Friday. Comcast Corporation has a 12 month low of $31.03 and a 12 month high of $45.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $116.64 billion, a PE ratio of 5.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.93. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.47.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The cable giant reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $30.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.81 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 18.44% and a return on equity of 18.86%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 1st. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.82%.

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.