Comcast Corporation $CMCSA Shares Sold by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 39.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 932,737 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 615,942 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $27,880,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Comcast by 0.6% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Comcast by 9.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,536,937 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $236,810,000 after buying an additional 665,635 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Comcast by 75.3% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 340,764 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $10,707,000 after buying an additional 146,339 shares during the last quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd lifted its stake in Comcast by 1.0% in the third quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd now owns 11,327,445 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $355,908,000 after buying an additional 113,461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. lifted its stake in Comcast by 3.5% in the third quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 952,154 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $29,917,000 after buying an additional 32,262 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. New Street Research cut their target price on Comcast from $36.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Comcast from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Comcast from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Comcast from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.79.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $25.20 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $27.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.62. The firm has a market cap of $90.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.96, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.71. Comcast Corporation has a 52-week low of $24.53 and a 52-week high of $36.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The cable giant reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $31.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.42 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 15.00%.Comcast’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Comcast Corporation will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 1st. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 25.98%.

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.