Spire Wealth Management Grows Stock Holdings in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Spire Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 9.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 33,417 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 2,966 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,233,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CMCSA. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 141,680,277 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,317,167,000 after acquiring an additional 11,255,683 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Comcast during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,835,226,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 85,812,139 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,212,244,000 after acquiring an additional 1,006,272 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 79,102,667 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,968,723,000 after acquiring an additional 5,039,823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 50,320,446 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,890,027,000 after acquiring an additional 5,402,377 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CMCSA. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley set a $37.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, April 25th. Argus downgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $44.50 price target (down previously from $45.00) on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Comcast from $55.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.10.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $35.32 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.68, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.95. Comcast Corporation has a 12 month low of $31.44 and a 12 month high of $45.31. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The cable giant reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 12.72% and a return on equity of 19.70%. The business had revenue of $29.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.04 EPS. The business’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.43%.

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.