Novem Group Lowers Position in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Key Points

• Novem Group cut its stake in Comcast by 76.3% in Q4, selling 85,181 shares and leaving 26,417 shares valued at about $790,000.
• CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares on Feb. 11 at $32.66 for roughly $1.89 million, reducing his position by 8.52%; insiders own about 1.26% of the stock.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Hold" (average target $34.81); Comcast trades near $29 with a P/E of 5.41 and pays a $0.33 quarterly dividend (≈4.5% yield).

Novem Group lowered its position in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 76.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,417 shares of the cable giant's stock after selling 85,181 shares during the period. Novem Group's holdings in Comcast were worth $790,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 46.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,706,330 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $1,059,053,000 after buying an additional 10,633,206 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Comcast by 4.6% during 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 during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Comcast by 2,970.5% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,394,728 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $221,028,000 after acquiring an additional 7,153,895 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP raised its position in Comcast by 1,356.2% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 6,556,098 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $205,993,000 after acquiring an additional 6,105,867 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its position in Comcast by 554.9% in the second quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 5,005,158 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $178,634,000 after acquiring an additional 4,240,876 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.66, for a total value of $1,892,549.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 622,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,325,493.76. This represents a 8.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Pivotal Research lowered shares of Comcast from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Comcast in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their price target on Comcast from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Comcast from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $34.81.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of CMCSA opened at $29.05 on Wednesday. Comcast Corporation has a 1 year low of $25.75 and a 1 year high of $36.66. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $29.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.09. The company has a market capitalization of $104.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.41, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.09. Comcast had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 16.17%.The firm had revenue of $32.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Comcast Corporation will post 3.46 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Comcast's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.58%.

Comcast Company Profile

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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