First Merchants Corp Has $7.07 Million Stock Holdings in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

First Merchants Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 5.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 191,714 shares of the cable giant's stock after selling 10,942 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp's holdings in Comcast were worth $7,074,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter worth about $3,835,226,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at about $743,681,000. Amundi raised its position in shares of 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 lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 141,680,277 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $5,317,167,000 after buying an additional 11,255,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 50,320,446 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $1,890,027,000 after buying an additional 5,402,377 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Comcast from $55.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley set a $37.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Argus downgraded shares of Comcast from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Scotiabank restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $44.50 target price (down previously from $45.00) on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.10.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $35.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. Comcast Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $31.44 and a fifty-two week high of $45.31. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.67. The company has a market capitalization of $131.46 billion, a PE ratio of 8.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.95.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.70% and a net margin of 12.72%. The company had revenue of $29.89 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 EPS. The firm's revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 2nd will be paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.75%. Comcast's dividend payout ratio is presently 32.43%.

Comcast Profile

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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