Weitz Investment Management Inc. Sells 366,500 Shares of Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Weitz Investment Management Inc. reduced its position in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 81.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 85,000 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 366,500 shares during the period. Weitz Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $2,541,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at $2,498,626,000. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Comcast by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 140,343,399 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,194,929,000 after purchasing an additional 24,166,881 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Comcast by 65.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 55,664,933 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,663,825,000 after purchasing an additional 21,958,603 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Comcast by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 180,687,135 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,677,190,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Comcast by 2,970.5% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,394,728 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $221,028,000 after purchasing an additional 7,153,895 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on CMCSA shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded Comcast to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on Comcast from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Comcast from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. New Street Research cut their target price on Comcast from $36.00 to $31.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $34.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.56.

Comcast Stock Performance

CMCSA stock opened at $23.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $85.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $26.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.34. Comcast Corporation has a 1 year low of $23.13 and a 1 year high of $36.66.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The cable giant reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The company had revenue of $31.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.09 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Comcast Corporation will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 25.98%.

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.