Intech Investment Management LLC Cuts Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Intech Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 55.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 709,402 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 884,916 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $26,624,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CMCSA. FMR LLC raised its position in Comcast by 5.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,904,647,000 after purchasing an additional 6,062,658 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 34,101,077 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,279,813,000 after buying an additional 2,270,186 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 32,709,601 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,227,591,000 after buying an additional 838,366 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 6.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 30,364,136 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,268,310,000 after buying an additional 1,717,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in Comcast by 147.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 24,086,671 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $895,499,000 after purchasing an additional 14,369,056 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on CMCSA shares. StockNews.com raised Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank cut Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Benchmark lowered their price objective on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.83.

Comcast Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $35.75 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $135.17 billion, a PE ratio of 8.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $32.50 and a 52-week high of $45.31. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.16.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.33 dividend. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.69%. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 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.