Baxter Bros Inc. Has $8.56 Million Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Baxter Bros Inc. lowered its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 20.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 227,996 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 58,855 shares during the quarter. Comcast comprises 1.1% of Baxter Bros Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Baxter Bros Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $8,557,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $743,681,000. Amundi boosted 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 buying an additional 14,369,056 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 55,334.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $345,565,000 after buying an additional 8,258,128 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Comcast by 5.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $4,904,647,000 after acquiring an additional 6,062,658 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 530.5% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,429,298 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $143,242,000 after acquiring an additional 2,885,370 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of CMCSA opened at $36.60 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $32.50 and a 12 month high of $45.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.82, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released 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%. Research analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on CMCSA. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America lowered shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Benchmark dropped their price objective on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.83.

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.