DnB Asset Management AS Purchases 20,312 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

DnB Asset Management AS grew its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 760,432 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,312 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Comcast were worth $28,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Comcast during the fourth quarter worth $3,835,226,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Comcast by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 34,101,077 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,279,813,000 after buying an additional 2,270,186 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Comcast by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 32,709,601 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,227,591,000 after acquiring an additional 838,366 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its position in Comcast by 147.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 24,086,671 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $895,499,000 after acquiring an additional 14,369,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Comcast during the fourth quarter worth approximately $743,681,000. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMCSA has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com raised Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America lowered shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Benchmark dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.64.

Comcast Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of CMCSA opened at $36.62 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.82, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $32.50 and a 52 week high of $45.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $35.89 and a 200-day moving average of $38.99.

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

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s payout ratio is 31.81%.

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.