Employees Retirement System of Texas Lowers Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Employees Retirement System of Texas reduced its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 21.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 87,610 shares of the cable giant's stock after selling 23,609 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Comcast were worth $3,288,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in Comcast in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Macquarie decreased their target price on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp cut their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. BNP Paribas cut Comcast from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Wall Street Zen raised Comcast from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.10.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $34.58. The company had a trading volume of 31,649,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,989,998. The firm has a market cap of $129.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.33, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $34.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.79. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $31.44 and a 52 week high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The cable giant reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.08. The company 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 revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.04 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.82%. Comcast's dividend payout ratio is currently 32.43%.

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.