Hills Bank & Trust Co Trims Stock Position in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Hills Bank & Trust Co lowered its holdings in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 66.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 22,936 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 46,258 shares during the quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Comcast were worth $686,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Comcast by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 369,311,219 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $11,038,712,000 after purchasing an additional 2,160,829 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Comcast by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 180,687,135 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,677,190,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,335 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox increased its position in shares of Comcast by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 112,567,918 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,536,884,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295,598 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Comcast by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 36,171,945 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,081,179,000 after purchasing an additional 245,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Comcast by 46.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 33,706,330 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,059,053,000 after purchasing an additional 10,633,206 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Trading Down 1.6%

Comcast stock opened at $24.76 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $28.36 and a 200 day moving average of $28.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.71. Comcast Corporation has a 12-month low of $24.53 and a 12-month high of $36.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The cable giant reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $31.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.42 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.09 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Comcast Corporation will post 3.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 1st will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 1st. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.98%.

Key Stories Impacting Comcast

Here are the key news stories impacting Comcast this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Comcast declared a quarterly dividend of $0.33 per share, reinforcing its income appeal and signaling management confidence in cash flow. Comcast Declares Quarterly Dividend
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Comcast as one of the better-positioned names in a challenging cable industry, citing growing demand for high-speed internet and stronger media consumption as cord-cutting shifts the market toward broadband. 2 Stocks to Watch From a Challenging Cable Television Industry
• Positive Sentiment: Comcast continues expanding rural broadband access in Florida and Indiana through public-private partnerships, which supports long-term subscriber growth and reinforces the company’s core connectivity business. What Comcast (CMCSA)’s Dividend, Rural Broadband Push and Legal Settlement Means For Shareholders
• Neutral Sentiment: Comcast’s Sky unit is reportedly advancing talks to acquire ITV’s media and entertainment business, a deal that could be strategic but is still early and may require a performance-based payout structure. Comcast’s Sky advances talks to acquire ITV unit with performance-based payout, sources say
• Negative Sentiment: Investor sentiment remains weighed down by Comcast’s $117.5 million data-breach settlement, which keeps cybersecurity, legal liability, and reputation risks in focus. Comcast’s US$117.5m Breach Settlement Puts Data Security Risks In Focus
• Negative Sentiment: Recent coverage also notes Comcast hit a new 12-month low after an analyst downgrade, underscoring ongoing concern about growth, competition, and margin pressure. Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Reaches New 12-Month Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CMCSA has been the subject of several research reports. Pivotal Research lowered shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of Comcast from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Comcast currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.79.

Comcast Profile

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.