Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Stake in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 367,150,390 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 2,288,531 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Comcast worth $11,535,865,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its stake in Comcast by 39.9% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,055,192 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $37,954,000 after buying an additional 300,898 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 20.0% in the second quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 82,089 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $2,928,000 after acquiring an additional 13,653 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 9.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,536,937 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $236,810,000 after acquiring an additional 665,635 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 75.3% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 340,764 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $10,707,000 after acquiring an additional 146,339 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. boosted its holdings in Comcast by 3.5% in the third quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 952,154 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $29,917,000 after purchasing an additional 32,262 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Zacks Research raised shares of Comcast from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson reduced their price objective on shares of Comcast from $58.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.90.

Comcast News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Comcast this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Comcast booked an estimated $800M in Super Bowl advertising revenue, a near-term revenue boost for its advertising and distribution businesses. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Company highlights renewed rural broadband buildouts — a growth/capex narrative that could expand subscriber reach and long-term broadband revenue. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: PR push: a new Universal Theme Parks exhibition (in partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal) raises brand visibility and drives content/IP monetization opportunities. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Local network expansion: Comcast is adding footprint in the Lehigh Valley — incremental subscriber growth and service penetration in targeted markets. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market interest: Zacks notes Comcast is among the most-searched stocks recently, reflecting high investor attention but not a directional signal by itself. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Momentum note: coverage flagged Comcast was on track for multi-day gains recently — useful context for traders but not a fundamental driver. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest reporting appears to contain errors (reports show 0 shares and NaN changes), so current short-interest metrics are unreliable and should be treated with caution. (No reliable link available)
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sale: CEO Michael Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares (~8.5% reduction in his stake) at ~$32.66 per share; SEC filing may weigh on sentiment since large insider sales can signal liquidity needs or prompt investor caution. Read More.

Comcast Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $31.57 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.07. Comcast Corporation has a twelve month low of $25.75 and a twelve month high of $37.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a market capitalization of $113.58 billion, a PE ratio of 5.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.81.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The cable giant reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.09. Comcast had a net margin of 16.17% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The firm had revenue of $32.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.35 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.96 EPS. Comcast’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is 24.58%.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

In other news, CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.66, for a total value of $1,892,549.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 622,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,325,493.76. This represents a 8.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Comcast

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is a diversified global media and technology company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its principal operations are organized around Comcast Cable, which provides broadband internet, video, voice and wireless services to residential and business customers in the United States under the Xfinity and Comcast Business brands, and NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment group that develops, produces and distributes content across broadcast and cable networks, film, and streaming platforms.

NBCUniversal’s assets include the NBC broadcast network, a portfolio of cable channels, Universal Pictures and other film and television production businesses, and the Peacock streaming service.