Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) is First Pacific Advisors LP’s 5th Largest Position

First Pacific Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 10,868,463 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 62,829 shares during the period. Comcast makes up approximately 5.8% of First Pacific Advisors LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. First Pacific Advisors LP owned 0.28% of Comcast worth $407,893,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Comcast by 269.9% in the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Comcast in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Comcast during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of research reports. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie cut their price target on Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 price objective on Comcast in a report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank lowered Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.83.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of Comcast stock opened at $37.59 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $142.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.12 and a 200 day moving average of $39.34. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $32.50 and a 12 month high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.81%.

Comcast Company Profile

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.