First Merchants Corp Cuts Stake in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

First Merchants Corp reduced its holdings in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 56.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 74,651 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 98,570 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Comcast were worth $2,231,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 4.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox raised its position in Comcast by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 112,567,918 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,536,884,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295,598 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Comcast in the second quarter worth $3,528,361,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Comcast by 46.1% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,706,330 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,059,053,000 after purchasing an additional 10,633,206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Comcast by 2.9% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 24,104,774 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $757,372,000 after buying an additional 686,520 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $28.73 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $30.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.59. The company has a market cap of $103.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.79. Comcast Corporation has a 12 month low of $25.75 and a 12 month high of $37.72.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.09. Comcast had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 16.17%.The company had revenue of $32.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.35 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. Comcast’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be given a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.58%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Comcast from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Barclays set a $28.00 target price on Comcast and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Comcast from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.66, for a total transaction of $1,892,549.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 622,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,325,493.76. The trade was a 8.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast 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.