Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Decreases Stock Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lowered its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,614,818 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 200,177 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Comcast were worth $98,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 904.0% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $10,632,000 after purchasing an additional 229,192 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter worth about $743,681,000. Bfsg LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 752.8% in the fourth quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 83,366 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,129,000 after purchasing an additional 73,590 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 43,509 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 3,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robinson Value Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 136.7% in the fourth quarter. Robinson Value Management Ltd. now owns 102,360 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,842,000 after purchasing an additional 59,107 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank cut Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup cut their price objective on Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie cut their price objective on Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI raised Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.83.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $36.01 on Wednesday. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $32.50 and a twelve month high of $45.31. The firm has a market cap of $136.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.68, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $35.86 and a 200 day moving average of $39.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. As a group, research analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 31.81%.

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.