Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 212,635 Shares of Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Clearbridge Investments LLC reduced its position in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,488,681 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 212,635 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $552,375,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 369,311,219 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $11,038,712,000 after buying an additional 2,160,829 shares during the period. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd raised its stake in Comcast by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild & Co Wealth Management UK Ltd now owns 11,327,445 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $355,908,000 after purchasing an additional 113,461 shares during the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. raised its stake in Comcast by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 952,154 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $29,917,000 after purchasing an additional 32,262 shares during the last quarter. North Dakota State Investment Board acquired a new position in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at $3,754,000. Finally, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its stake in Comcast by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 613,694 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $19,282,000 after purchasing an additional 49,800 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMCSA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities cut their target price on shares of Comcast from $30.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Evercore increased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.56.

Comcast Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of Comcast stock opened at $23.82 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.42. Comcast Corporation has a 12-month low of $23.13 and a 12-month 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $31.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.42 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.09 EPS. Research analysts expect that Comcast Corporation will post 3.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

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

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.