California Public Employees Retirement System Boosts Stake in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Key Points

• CalPERS increased its Comcast stake by 5.7% in the first quarter, adding 501,731 shares and bringing its total holding to 9.35 million shares worth about $268.5 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains cautious on Comcast, with several analysts cutting price targets; the stock currently carries a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.64.
• Comcast reported solid quarterly results and a dividend, beating earnings and revenue estimates in its latest quarter while also declaring a $0.33 quarterly dividend, equal to a 5.5% annualized yield.

California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,351,906 shares of the cable giant's stock after acquiring an additional 501,731 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.26% of Comcast worth $268,493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Imprint Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Comcast during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new position in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Comcast by 75.5% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 932 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Group LTD purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CMCSA shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Comcast from $36.00 to $32.75 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Moffett Nathanson dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Comcast in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $33.64.

Comcast Trading Down 1.3%

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $23.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. Comcast Corporation has a one year low of $22.13 and a one year high of $36.01. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.98 billion, a PE ratio of 4.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.67.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The cable giant reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The firm had revenue of $31.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. Comcast's quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Comcast Corporation will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 1st. Comcast's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.98%.

Comcast 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.

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