Comcast Corporation $CMCSA Stock Position Raised by Brandes Investment Partners LP

Brandes Investment Partners LP lifted its position in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,573,835 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 50,897 shares during the quarter. Comcast comprises 1.8% of Brandes Investment Partners LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Comcast were worth $198,930,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Comcast by 0.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 369,438,921 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $13,185,275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,257,196 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,528,361,000. Dodge & Cox boosted its holdings in Comcast by 19.1% in the first quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 94,217,741 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,476,635,000 after purchasing an additional 15,115,074 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Comcast by 7.5% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,154,170 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,289,984,000 after buying an additional 2,517,906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Comcast by 1.4% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 35,905,236 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,281,458,000 after buying an additional 490,923 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMCSA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Zacks Research cut Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $28.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective (down from $39.00) on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Pivotal Research lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.82.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $26.58 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $28.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.27. Comcast Corporation has a 52-week low of $25.75 and a 52-week high of $43.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.83.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 13th. The cable giant reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter. Comcast had a net margin of 18.33% and a return on equity of 18.06%. The business had revenue of $30.34 billion during the quarter. Equities research analysts forecast that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 14th will be given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 14th. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.96%.

About Comcast

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.