Assetmark Inc. Increases Stake in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Key Points

• Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Comcast by 7.5% in Q4 to 3,693,832 shares (about $110.41M), and institutional investors now own roughly 84.32% of the stock.
• Comcast beat Q1 estimates with $0.84 EPS vs. $0.75 consensus while reporting $32.31B in revenue (up 1.2% YoY), and trades at a low valuation of PE 5.22 with a market cap near $100.9B.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.33 (annualized yield ~4.7%), while CEO Michael Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares in February and analysts' consensus rating remains Hold with a $34.81 target.

Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,693,832 shares of the cable giant's stock after purchasing an additional 257,182 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. owned about 0.10% of Comcast worth $110,409,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Comcast by 39.9% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,055,192 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $37,954,000 after buying an additional 300,898 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Comcast by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,536,937 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $236,810,000 after buying an additional 665,635 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Comcast by 75.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 340,764 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $10,707,000 after buying an additional 146,339 shares during the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. grew its position in shares of Comcast by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 952,154 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $29,917,000 after buying an additional 32,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd grew its position in shares of Comcast by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd now owns 11,327,445 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $355,908,000 after buying an additional 113,461 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Comcast Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $28.05 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Comcast Corporation has a twelve month low of $25.75 and a twelve month high of $36.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.92 billion, a PE ratio of 5.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.80. The stock's 50 day moving average is $30.12 and its 200 day moving average is $29.18.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.09. Comcast had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 16.17%.The company had revenue of $32.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Comcast's payout ratio is currently 24.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

In related news, CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.66, for a total transaction of $1,892,549.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 622,336 shares in the company, valued at $20,325,493.76. The trade was a 8.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CMCSA. Benchmark cut their price objective on Comcast from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Bank of America upgraded Comcast from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Zacks Research upgraded Comcast from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Comcast from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research lowered Comcast from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $34.81.

About Comcast

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.

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