Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 1,388,951 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 369,534,167 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 1,388,951 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 9.77% of Comcast worth $13,868,617,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in Comcast by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,904,647,000 after acquiring an additional 6,062,658 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Comcast by 7.1% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 2,270,186 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Comcast by 2.6% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 838,366 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Comcast by 6.0% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 1,717,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in Comcast by 147.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 24,086,671 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $895,499,000 after acquiring an additional 14,369,056 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMCSA has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America lowered shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.83.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $36.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $138.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a 12-month low of $32.50 and a 12-month high of $45.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $35.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.07.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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%. Analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is 31.81%.

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.