Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Shares Sold by HM Payson & Co.

HM Payson & Co. lessened its position in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 18.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 37,601 shares of the cable giant's stock after selling 8,720 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co.'s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,387,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,835,226,000. Amundi grew its holdings in Comcast by 147.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 24,086,671 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $895,499,000 after purchasing an additional 14,369,056 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Comcast by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 141,680,277 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $5,317,167,000 after purchasing an additional 11,255,683 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Comcast by 724.7% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 10,160,649 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $374,927,000 after purchasing an additional 8,928,641 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Comcast by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 50,320,446 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $1,890,027,000 after purchasing an additional 5,402,377 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CMCSA. UBS Group set a $44.50 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Comcast from $55.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Bernstein Bank lowered their price target on Comcast from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Comcast from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $31.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Comcast currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $40.96.

Comcast Trading Up 0.3%

Comcast stock opened at $35.93 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $34.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.50. Comcast Corporation has a 52 week low of $31.44 and a 52 week high of $45.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.95.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The cable giant reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 net margin of 12.72% and a return on equity of 19.70%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 2nd. Comcast's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.

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