Welch & Forbes LLC Cuts Position in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Key Points

• Welch & Forbes LLC cut its Comcast stake by 38% in the first quarter, selling 96,767 shares and leaving it with 157,713 shares valued at about $4.53 million.
• Comcast reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting $0.79 EPS versus the $0.73 consensus and revenue of $31.46 billion, up 5.3% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.33 per share, which annualizes to $1.32 and implies a 5.6% yield; analysts currently have a consensus Hold rating with a $34.04 average price target.

Welch & Forbes LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 38.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 157,713 shares of the cable giant's stock after selling 96,767 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC's holdings in Comcast were worth $4,528,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CMCSA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 369,311,219 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $11,038,712,000 after purchasing an additional 2,160,829 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Comcast by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 186,805,081 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $5,583,604,000 after buying an additional 6,117,946 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 20.8% in 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 last quarter. Dodge & Cox raised its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 1,465,428 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $23.57 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The company's 50-day moving average price is $24.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.69. The company has a market cap of $84.20 billion, a PE ratio of 4.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.67. Comcast Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $22.13 and a fifty-two week high of $36.01.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The cable giant reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The firm had revenue of $31.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $30.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.09 EPS. Comcast's quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Comcast Corporation will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 1st will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 1st. Comcast's dividend payout ratio is 25.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $33.00 to $30.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Moffett Nathanson decreased their price target on shares of Comcast from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Comcast from $29.00 to $26.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Comcast from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $34.04.

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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