LPL Financial LLC Trims Stock Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

LPL Financial LLC decreased its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,249,567 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 54,683 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $135,734,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CMCSA. Cornerstone Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Comcast by 11.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 218,100 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $9,110,000 after purchasing an additional 22,800 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its position in shares of Comcast by 0.5% in the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 286,802 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $11,980,000 after buying an additional 1,443 shares in the last quarter. Payden & Rygel increased its position in shares of Comcast by 51.9% in the third quarter. Payden & Rygel now owns 29,570 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,235,000 after buying an additional 10,100 shares in the last quarter. Altman Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Altman Advisors Inc. now owns 44,662 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,866,000 after buying an additional 718 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bellwether Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Comcast in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,328,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Macquarie upped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank upgraded Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.19.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $43.47 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market cap of $166.34 billion, a PE ratio of 11.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $36.43 and a twelve month high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. Comcast’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.33%.

Comcast 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.