Merit Financial Group LLC Cuts Position in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Merit Financial Group LLC lowered its holdings in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 23.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 122,651 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 37,083 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $3,011,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,498,626,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Comcast by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 140,343,399 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $4,194,929,000 after buying an additional 24,166,881 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Comcast by 65.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 55,664,933 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,663,825,000 after buying an additional 21,958,603 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in Comcast by 824.4% during the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 11,616,490 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $333,509,000 after buying an additional 10,359,800 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Comcast by 4.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 180,687,135 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,677,190,000 after buying an additional 7,917,335 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CMCSA. Barclays set a $26.00 price target on shares of Comcast and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Freedom Capital raised Comcast to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Comcast from $35.50 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 29th. Seaport Research Partners upgraded Comcast from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.96.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $26.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $23.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.89. The stock has a market cap of $92.94 billion, a PE ratio of 8.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.67. Comcast Corporation has a one year low of $21.28 and a one year high of $34.45.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.07. Comcast had a return on equity of 14.77% and a net margin of 8.97%.The company had revenue of $29.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Comcast Corporation will post 3.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 7th will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 7th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.72%.

Comcast Company Profile

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.