River Road Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

River Road Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 431,344 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,593 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $14,334,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 369,438,921 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $13,185,275,000 after purchasing an additional 1,257,196 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Comcast in the second quarter worth approximately $3,528,361,000. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in Comcast by 19.1% during the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 94,217,741 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,476,635,000 after buying an additional 15,115,074 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Comcast by 7.5% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,154,170 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,289,984,000 after buying an additional 2,517,906 shares during the period. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Comcast by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 35,905,236 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,281,458,000 after acquiring an additional 490,923 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Comcast Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $26.58 on Tuesday. Comcast Corporation has a 12-month low of $25.75 and a 12-month high of $43.45. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market cap of $96.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.83.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 13th. The cable giant reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter. Comcast had a net margin of 18.33% and a return on equity of 18.06%. The firm had revenue of $30.34 billion for the quarter. On average, analysts forecast that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 14th. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 21.96%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMCSA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Comcast from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price (down from $39.00) on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, October 31st. KeyCorp cut shares of Comcast from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Comcast from $38.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.82.

Comcast Profile

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.