Alps Advisors Inc. Has $52.12 Million Stock Position in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Alps Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 6.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,412,535 shares of the cable giant's stock after acquiring an additional 91,010 shares during the period. Comcast comprises about 0.3% of Alps Advisors Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Alps Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Comcast were worth $52,123,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at $3,835,226,000. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 141,680,277 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $5,317,167,000 after acquiring an additional 11,255,683 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 724.7% in the first quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 10,160,649 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $374,927,000 after acquiring an additional 8,928,641 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 50,320,446 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $1,890,027,000 after acquiring an additional 5,402,377 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dodge & Cox increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 79,102,667 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $2,968,723,000 after acquiring an additional 5,039,823 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CMCSA. UBS Group set a $44.50 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Moffett Nathanson increased their target price on shares of Comcast from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $37.00 to $35.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $39.00 to $37.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Comcast from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $31.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $40.98.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of Comcast stock traded down $0.43 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $34.99. The company had a trading volume of 16,862,759 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,974,051. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The company has a market capitalization of $130.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.43. Comcast Corporation has a 1-year low of $31.44 and a 1-year high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The cable giant reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.70% and a net margin of 12.72%. The firm had revenue of $29.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 2nd will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 2nd. Comcast's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.