Comcast Corporation $CMCSA Shares Sold by Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.

Key Points

• Beutel Goodman cut its Comcast stake by 99.5% in the third quarter, selling 4,173,521 shares and retaining 20,575 shares worth about $447,000.
• Analysts are divided: 10 rate Comcast a Buy, 11 a Hold and 6 a Sell; the consensus rating is Hold, with an average price target of $28.77.
• Comcast beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting EPS of $1.07 and revenue of $29.30 billion, though revenue fell 6.1% year over year. It also declared a $0.33 quarterly dividend, equivalent to a 5.4% yield at the cited share price.

Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. decreased its stake in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 99.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,575 shares of the cable giant's stock after selling 4,173,521 shares during the quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd.'s holdings in Comcast were worth $447,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. M&G PLC grew its position in Comcast by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. M&G PLC now owns 638,428 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $14,045,000 after purchasing an additional 7,320 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Comcast by 12.4% in the third quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 28,302 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $616,000 after buying an additional 3,132 shares during the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in Comcast by 2.6% in the third quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 1,808,465 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $39,352,000 after buying an additional 45,016 shares during the last quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management raised its holdings in Comcast by 74.2% in the third quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management now owns 1,519 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fulcrum Asset Management LLP lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 865.6% in the third quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP now owns 284,938 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $6,155,000 after buying an additional 255,430 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price target on shares of Comcast from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 price target (down from $37.00) on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Barclays set a $24.00 price objective on shares of Comcast and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $31.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $28.77.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $24.51 on Tuesday. Comcast Corporation has a one year low of $20.48 and a one year high of $32.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $23.09 and a 200 day moving average of $25.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $87.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.76, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.72.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The cable giant reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $29.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $29.22 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 14.64%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Comcast Corporation will post 3.54 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 6th. Comcast's payout ratio is presently 41.77%.

About Comcast

Comcast Corporation is a media and telecommunications company whose businesses include broadband, cable television, wireless and voice services, as well as entertainment, news and theme parks. Its Xfinity brand offers residential and business connectivity and entertainment services in the United States.

Through NBCUniversal, Comcast operates the NBC broadcast network, cable channels, the Peacock streaming service, Universal Pictures and Universal theme parks. The company also owns Sky, which provides television, broadband and related services in the United Kingdom and other European markets.

Comcast traces its roots to a cable television business founded in 1963 as American Cable Systems.

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