Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Purchases 159,574 Shares of Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 19.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 976,210 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 159,574 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $30,673,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Comcast in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,528,361,000. Dodge & Cox increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 18.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 111,272,320 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,971,309,000 after acquiring an additional 17,054,579 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Comcast by 133.1% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 10,187,177 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $363,580,000 after acquiring an additional 5,817,614 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its stake in Comcast by 554.9% in the 2nd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 5,005,158 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $178,634,000 after acquiring an additional 4,240,876 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Comcast by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 172,769,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $6,166,154,000 after purchasing an additional 4,231,140 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective (up from $32.79) on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Comcast from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Comcast from $37.50 to $35.25 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Comcast from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Comcast from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.87.

Comcast Stock Performance

CMCSA opened at $32.09 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. Comcast Corporation has a 52-week low of $25.75 and a 52-week high of $37.97. The firm has a market cap of $115.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s fifty day moving average is $29.97 and its 200-day moving average is $29.99.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.09. Comcast had a net margin of 16.17% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The business had revenue of $32.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. Comcast’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.66, for a total transaction of $1,892,549.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 622,336 shares in the company, valued at $20,325,493.76. This represents a 8.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Comcast

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is a diversified global media and technology company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its principal operations are organized around Comcast Cable, which provides broadband internet, video, voice and wireless services to residential and business customers in the United States under the Xfinity and Comcast Business brands, and NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment group that develops, produces and distributes content across broadcast and cable networks, film, and streaming platforms.

NBCUniversal’s assets include the NBC broadcast network, a portfolio of cable channels, Universal Pictures and other film and television production businesses, and the Peacock streaming service.