Lazard Asset Management LLC Acquires 659,094 Shares of Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 181.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,021,827 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 659,094 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $29,337,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Imprint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Comcast in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. bought a new position in Comcast during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Comcast by 75.5% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 932 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the period. Main Street Group LTD acquired a new stake in Comcast during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in Comcast by 212.6% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,016 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $24.19 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $86.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.83, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50 day moving average of $23.76 and a 200-day moving average of $27.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Comcast Corporation has a 1-year low of $21.28 and a 1-year high of $34.45.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $29.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.24 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 8.97% and a return on equity of 14.77%. Comcast’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Comcast Corporation will post 3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 7th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CMCSA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $32.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Comcast from $35.50 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 29th. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Comcast in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. New Street Research dropped their price objective on Comcast from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Comcast in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.96.

About Comcast

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.