Invst LLC Reduces Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Invst LLC lessened its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 13.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,598 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 5,241 shares during the quarter. Invst LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Comcast by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 141,680,277 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,317,167,000 after acquiring an additional 11,255,683 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Comcast in the fourth quarter worth $3,835,226,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Comcast by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 85,812,139 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,212,244,000 after acquiring an additional 1,006,272 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox lifted its stake in Comcast by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 79,102,667 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $2,968,723,000 after acquiring an additional 5,039,823 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Comcast by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 50,320,446 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,890,027,000 after acquiring an additional 5,402,377 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $36.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Comcast from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Macquarie lowered their price objective on Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America lowered Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Comcast has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.10.

Comcast Price Performance

CMCSA opened at $34.52 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $34.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.06. 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 firm has a market cap of $128.89 billion, a PE ratio of 8.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.97. Comcast Co. has a 1 year low of $31.44 and a 1 year high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The cable giant reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $29.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.82 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. Comcast’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.04 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 2nd will be issued a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.82%. Comcast’s payout ratio is 32.43%.

Comcast Profile

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.