Weitz Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stake in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Weitz Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 81.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 85,000 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 366,500 shares during the period. Weitz Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $2,541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,498,626,000. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Comcast by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 140,343,399 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,194,929,000 after buying an additional 24,166,881 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Comcast by 65.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 55,664,933 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,663,825,000 after buying an additional 21,958,603 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Comcast by 4.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 180,687,135 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,677,190,000 after buying an additional 7,917,335 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Comcast by 2,970.5% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,394,728 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $221,028,000 after buying an additional 7,153,895 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CMCSA shares. Citigroup upped their target price on Comcast from $33.00 to $35.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Comcast to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on Comcast from $30.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Comcast from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Comcast from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.56.

Comcast Price Performance

CMCSA stock opened at $23.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $26.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.34. Comcast Corporation has a 52-week low of $23.13 and a 52-week high of $36.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.72, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.67.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The cable giant reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $31.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.42 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 15.47% and a net margin of 15.00%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.09 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Comcast Corporation will post 3.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 1st. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.98%.

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.