Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Has $1.21 Billion Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 41.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 28,016,389 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 8,243,302 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.71% of Comcast worth $1,214,512,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CMCSA. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Comcast by 7.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 115,703,280 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,015,737,000 after purchasing an additional 7,929,963 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Comcast during the fourth quarter worth $2,542,988,000. Harris Associates L P increased its position in shares of Comcast by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 18,873,787 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $827,616,000 after acquiring an additional 1,854,671 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its position in shares of Comcast by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 15,688,650 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $687,947,000 after acquiring an additional 570,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Comcast by 2.8% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 15,100,752 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $654,617,000 after acquiring an additional 408,425 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

In other Comcast news, major shareholder Corp Comcast sold 3,176,923 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.19, for a total value of $10,134,384.37. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,000,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,380,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA traded up $1.45 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $39.69. 24,563,940 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,189,402. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $36.43 and a twelve month high of $47.46.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $29.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.02 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 12.46% and a return on equity of 20.17%. Comcast’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Comcast in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $44.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Comcast from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.96.

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.