Merit Financial Group LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Merit Financial Group LLC reduced its position in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 23.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 122,651 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 37,083 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $3,011,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CMCSA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Comcast by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 369,311,219 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $11,038,712,000 after purchasing an additional 2,160,829 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 186,805,081 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,583,604,000 after buying an additional 6,117,946 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake 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 worth $4,194,929,000 after buying an additional 24,166,881 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 112,967,514 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,376,599,000 after buying an additional 399,596 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 89,913,362 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $2,680,747,000 after buying an additional 1,465,428 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on CMCSA shares. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Comcast in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Scotiabank set a $29.00 target price on Comcast in a report on Friday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $23.00 price target on Comcast and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays set a $26.00 price target on Comcast and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.96.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of CMCSA opened at $26.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $23.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.89. Comcast Corporation has a twelve month low of $21.28 and a twelve month high of $34.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.94 billion, a PE ratio of 8.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.67.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $29.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.24 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 14.77% and a net margin of 8.97%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Comcast Corporation will post 3.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 7th will be given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 7th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.72%.

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.