Comcast Corporation $CMCSA Shares Purchased by California Public Employees Retirement System

Key Points

• California Public Employees Retirement System raised its Comcast stake 9.7% in Q3 to 9,005,165 shares (about $282.9M), while other large institutions including Dodge & Cox, Norges Bank, Capital Research and Two Sigma also added positions, leaving institutional ownership at 84.32%.
• CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares on Feb. 11 at roughly $32.66, cutting his stake by 8.52%; insiders now own 1.32% of the company.
• Comcast beat EPS estimates ($0.84 vs. $0.75) on roughly flat revenue of $32.31B, declared a $0.33 quarterly dividend (4.4% yield), and carries an average analyst rating of "Hold" with a $34.87 price target.

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,005,165 shares of the cable giant's stock after purchasing an additional 795,886 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.25% of Comcast worth $282,942,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Comcast in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,528,361,000. Dodge & Cox raised its stake in Comcast by 18.1% during the second quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 111,272,320 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $3,971,309,000 after acquiring an additional 17,054,579 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Comcast by 46.1% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,706,330 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $1,059,053,000 after acquiring an additional 10,633,206 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its stake in Comcast by 1,356.2% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 6,556,098 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $205,993,000 after acquiring an additional 6,105,867 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Comcast by 133.1% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 10,187,177 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $363,580,000 after acquiring an additional 5,817,614 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.66, for a total value of $1,892,549.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 622,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,325,493.76. This represents 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 the SEC website. 1.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CMCSA shares. Bank of America upgraded Comcast from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Benchmark lowered their price objective on Comcast from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $33.00 target price (up from $32.79) on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Pivotal Research downgraded shares of Comcast from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $34.87.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of CMCSA stock opened at $30.16 on Friday. Comcast Corporation has a 12-month low of $25.75 and a 12-month high of $37.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.85.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $32.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.96 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. Comcast's payout ratio is currently 24.58%.

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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