Cetera Investment Advisers Increases Stock Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 236.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,112,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 782,029 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Comcast were worth $48,224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at $2,542,988,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Comcast by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 107,773,317 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,725,926,000 after acquiring an additional 15,625,543 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board boosted its holdings in Comcast by 25,881.7% in the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 10,850,995 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $470,391,000 after acquiring an additional 10,809,231 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Comcast by 41.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,016,389 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,214,512,000 after acquiring an additional 8,243,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in Comcast by 80.9% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,542,253 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $457,007,000 after acquiring an additional 4,714,586 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $39.90. 25,951,665 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,184,204. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $38.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.57. The firm has a market cap of $154.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.56, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $36.43 and a twelve month high of $47.46.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $29.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.02 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.17% and a net margin of 12.46%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.80%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Corp Comcast sold 3,176,923 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.19, for a total transaction of $10,134,384.37. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,000,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,380,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Comcast from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $47.25 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $44.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.01.

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.