KBC Group NV Decreases Stock Position in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Key Points

• KBC Group NV cut its stake in Comcast by 47.9% in Q4, selling about 1,599,955 shares and leaving 1,740,659 shares valued at roughly $52.03 million.
• CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares at about $32.66 on Feb. 11, reducing his ownership by 8.52%; company insiders now own 1.32% of Comcast.
• Comcast announced a quarterly dividend of $0.33 (annualized $1.32, ~4.5% yield; ex-dividend Apr. 1, payable Apr. 22), while analysts' consensus rating is a Hold with a $34.81 price target.

KBC Group NV cut its position in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 47.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,740,659 shares of the cable giant's stock after selling 1,599,955 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV's holdings in Comcast were worth $52,028,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CMCSA. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 4.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 180,687,135 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $5,677,190,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,335 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 1.2% in the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 112,567,918 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $3,536,884,000 after acquiring an additional 1,295,598 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 46.1% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,706,330 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $1,059,053,000 after acquiring an additional 10,633,206 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 2.9% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 24,104,774 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $757,372,000 after acquiring an additional 686,520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 12.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 22,047,063 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $692,719,000 after acquiring an additional 2,470,742 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Comcast from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. Pivotal Research cut shares of Comcast from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $33.00 price target (up from $32.79) on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, January 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $34.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

In other Comcast news, CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.66, for a total transaction of $1,892,549.02. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 622,336 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,325,493.76. This represents a 8.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.32% of the company's stock.

Comcast Trading Up 3.7%

CMCSA opened at $29.35 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $105.60 billion, a PE ratio of 5.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.80. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $30.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Comcast Corporation has a 12-month low of $25.75 and a 12-month high of $36.66.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $32.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $32.35 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 16.17% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.96 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 1st. Comcast's dividend payout ratio is 24.58%.

About Comcast

Comcast Corporation NASDAQ: CMCSA is a diversified global media and technology company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its principal operations are organized around Comcast Cable, which provides broadband internet, video, voice and wireless services to residential and business customers in the United States under the Xfinity and Comcast Business brands, and NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment group that develops, produces and distributes content across broadcast and cable networks, film, and streaming platforms.

NBCUniversal's assets include the NBC broadcast network, a portfolio of cable channels, Universal Pictures and other film and television production businesses, and the Peacock streaming service.

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