Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC Increases Stake in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC grew its position in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 21.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 38,572 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 6,861 shares during the period. Comcast makes up about 0.9% of Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,423,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on CMCSA. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Comcast from $55.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group set a $44.50 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $44.50 price objective (down from $45.00) on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.10.

Comcast Stock Down 0.8%

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $34.26 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $34.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.92. Comcast Corporation has a one year low of $31.44 and a one year high of $45.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $127.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.95.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released 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 net margin of 12.72% and a return on equity of 19.70%. The business had revenue of $29.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. Comcast’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 2nd will be given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.43%.

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.