M&G Plc Sells 462,075 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

M&G Plc trimmed its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 22.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,589,618 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 462,075 shares during the quarter. M&G Plc’s holdings in Comcast were worth $61,995,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Comcast by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 60,650 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,659,000 after buying an additional 2,781 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Comcast by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 101,182 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $4,438,000 after buying an additional 1,486 shares during the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at $2,056,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 115,503 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,065,000 after buying an additional 10,936 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Comcast by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 11,304,304 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $495,694,000 after acquiring an additional 368,685 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on CMCSA shares. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. BNP Paribas lowered Comcast from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Monday, May 13th. Pivotal Research reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $44.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.78.

Insider Activity

In other Comcast news, major shareholder Corp Comcast sold 3,176,923 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.19, for a total transaction of $10,134,384.37. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,000,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,380,000. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of CMCSA traded up $0.59 on Tuesday, reaching $39.12. 13,667,958 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,408,361. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $38.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.66. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.46. The firm has a market cap of $153.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.09. The business 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.80%.

Comcast Company 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.