Strs Ohio Has $95.35 Million Stock Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Strs Ohio reduced its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,174,411 shares of the cable giant's stock after selling 118,519 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio owned about 0.05% of Comcast worth $95,347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Comcast by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 53,653,778 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $1,876,273,000 after buying an additional 7,084,451 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Comcast during the 4th quarter worth $1,798,173,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Comcast by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 46,019,891 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $2,040,522,000 after acquiring an additional 141,874 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Comcast by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 42,448,741 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $1,245,022,000 after acquiring an additional 189,845 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Comcast by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 42,441,142 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $1,987,094,000 after acquiring an additional 473,150 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Comcast news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 114,749 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total value of $5,289,928.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.18% of the company's stock.

Comcast Stock Down 1.9 %

CMCSA stock traded down $0.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $39.37. The stock had a trading volume of 23,423,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,634,200. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $36.38 and a 1-year high of $47.46. The company has a fifty day moving average of $42.18 and a 200 day moving average of $42.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $156.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.98.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The cable giant reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.04. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.75% and a net margin of 12.66%. The business had revenue of $31.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.41 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 3rd will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. This is an increase from Comcast's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Comcast's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on CMCSA shares. Evercore ISI reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Comcast from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, December 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 5th. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered Comcast from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $44.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $49.50.

About Comcast

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.