Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Grows Stake in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 2.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,179,697 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 106,921 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Comcast were worth $131,326,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 0.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 369,438,921 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $13,185,275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,257,196 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew 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 worth $6,166,154,000 after acquiring an additional 4,231,140 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox increased its position in Comcast by 18.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 111,272,320 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,971,309,000 after purchasing an additional 17,054,579 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,528,361,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 36,154,170 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,289,984,000 after purchasing an additional 2,517,906 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Trading Up 0.4%

Comcast stock opened at $30.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market cap of $111.39 billion, a PE ratio of 5.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $29.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.04. Comcast Corporation has a one year low of $25.75 and a one year high of $37.97.

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

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 24.58%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMCSA has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, January 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price target (down from $39.00) on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, October 31st. Oppenheimer set a $38.00 price objective on Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Comcast from $38.00 to $33.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Evercore reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

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 value of $1,892,549.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 622,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,325,493.76. This represents a 8.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.