Comcast Corporation $CMCSA Stock Position Lowered by Bahl & Gaynor LLC

Key Points

• Bahl & Gaynor cut its Comcast holdings by 99.5% in the third quarter, selling about 4.13 million shares and retaining 20,958 shares valued at $456,000.
• Comcast beat quarterly earnings estimates with EPS of $1.07 versus $0.99 expected, while revenue fell 6.1% year over year to $29.3 billion.
• Analysts’ consensus rating was Hold, with an average price target of $28.77; Comcast also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.33 per share.

Bahl & Gaynor LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 99.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,958 shares of the cable giant's stock after selling 4,129,959 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor LLC's holdings in Comcast were worth $456,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Comcast by 10.2% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 40,864,921 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $1,173,232,000 after acquiring an additional 3,783,234 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 1.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,461,308 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $845,919,000 after purchasing an additional 507,097 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 4.9% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 13,592,149 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $390,231,000 after purchasing an additional 630,902 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its position in shares of Comcast by 824.4% during the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 11,616,490 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $333,509,000 after purchasing an additional 10,359,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Comcast by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 10,666,200 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $306,227,000 after purchasing an additional 574,300 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company's stock.

Comcast Stock Performance

CMCSA opened at $24.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.06 billion, a PE ratio of 7.85, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.72. Comcast Corporation has a twelve month low of $20.48 and a twelve month high of $32.85. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $22.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The cable giant reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 9.20% and a return on equity of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $29.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.12 EPS. The business's revenue was down 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Comcast Corporation will post 3.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 6th will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 6th. Comcast's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.77%.

Comcast News Summary

These are some of the CMCSA news items that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: A valuation analysis argues Comcast could be trading about 43% below fair value, with job cuts part of the context for its assessment. This points to potential upside if investors gain confidence in the company’s cost and growth outlook. Comcast (CMCSA) Stock Could Be 43% Below Fair Value After Job Cuts
• Neutral Sentiment: Comcast shares rose Wednesday but underperformed the broader market, indicating a weaker relative performance despite the gain. Comcast stock rises Wednesday, still underperforms market
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street analysts reportedly rate the stock “Hold,” reflecting a wait-and-see stance rather than a clear consensus on near-term upside. Comcast Stock Now Rated Hold by Wall Street Analysts

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Comcast from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $26.00 price objective on Comcast and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Monday, October 19th. Moffett Nathanson decreased their target price on Comcast from $52.00 to $43.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Barclays set a $24.00 price target on Comcast and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $28.77.

Comcast Company Profile

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.

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