Perennial Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Perennial Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,896 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 336 shares during the quarter. Perennial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $513,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Comcast by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 141,680,277 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,317,167,000 after purchasing an additional 11,255,683 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,835,226,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Comcast by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 85,812,139 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,212,244,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,272 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in Comcast by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 79,102,667 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,968,723,000 after purchasing an additional 5,039,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Comcast by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 50,320,446 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,890,027,000 after purchasing an additional 5,402,377 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on CMCSA shares. Morgan Stanley set a $37.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Comcast from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Argus downgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.10.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of CMCSA opened at $34.70 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $31.44 and a 12 month high of $45.31. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $34.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $129.56 billion, a PE ratio of 8.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.95.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The cable giant reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. The firm had revenue of $29.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 2nd will be paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.43%.

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.