Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Boosts Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 400,427 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,876 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $15,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Comcast by 7.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 115,703,280 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,015,737,000 after buying an additional 7,929,963 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,542,988,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of 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 period. Harris Associates L P boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 18,873,787 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $827,616,000 after acquiring an additional 1,854,671 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 11,304,304 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $495,694,000 after acquiring an additional 368,685 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of CMCSA stock traded up $0.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $40.12. The stock had a trading volume of 328,531 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,882,152. Comcast Co. has a 12-month low of $36.43 and a 12-month high of $47.11. The company has a market cap of $157.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.09. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.17% and a net margin of 12.46%. The business had revenue of $29.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CMCSA. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Comcast from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. BNP Paribas downgraded Comcast from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Comcast from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.78.

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.