Renaissance Technologies LLC Sells 5,772,200 Shares of Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Key Points

• Renaissance Technologies cut its Comcast position by 88%, selling 5,772,200 shares and retaining 788,376 shares valued at approximately $22.6 million.
• Comcast reported quarterly EPS of $1.04, beating estimates of $0.97, while revenue of $29.94 billion exceeded expectations but declined 1.2% year over year. The stock carries a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $32.96.
• Comcast declared a quarterly dividend of $0.33 per share, equivalent to an annualized $1.32 payout and a 5.4% yield.

Renaissance Technologies LLC lessened its position in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 88.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 788,376 shares of the cable giant's stock after selling 5,772,200 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC's holdings in Comcast were worth $22,634,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 369,311,219 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $11,038,712,000 after buying an additional 2,160,829 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 186,805,081 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $5,583,604,000 after acquiring an additional 6,117,946 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Comcast by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 140,343,399 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $4,194,929,000 after acquiring an additional 24,166,881 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox lifted its position in Comcast by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 112,967,514 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $3,376,599,000 after acquiring an additional 399,596 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Comcast by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 89,913,362 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $2,680,747,000 after acquiring an additional 1,465,428 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Comcast from $35.50 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 29th. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target on Comcast from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. New Street Research reduced their price objective on Comcast from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Comcast from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp reissued a "sector weight" rating on shares of Comcast in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Comcast currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $32.96.

Comcast Stock Up 1.7%

Comcast stock opened at $24.61 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $87.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.96, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.17. Comcast Corporation has a 12 month low of $21.28 and a 12 month high of $34.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.07. Comcast had a return on equity of 14.77% and a net margin of 8.97%.The firm had revenue of $29.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Comcast Corporation will post 3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 7th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.4%. Comcast's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.72%.

Comcast 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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