Clearbridge Investments LLC Sells 6,186,412 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Clearbridge Investments LLC reduced its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 23.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,123,083 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 6,186,412 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $755,194,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. Financial Counselors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 45,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,893,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in Comcast by 3.5% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 134,166 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,604,000 after buying an additional 4,586 shares during the last quarter. Encompass More Asset Management raised its stake in Comcast by 5.0% in the third quarter. Encompass More Asset Management now owns 8,748 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $365,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 45.7% in the third quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 260,458 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $10,879,000 after buying an additional 81,636 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 140,357 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $6,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,545 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Loop Capital decreased their price target on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Scotiabank cut Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Comcast currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.64.

Comcast Trading Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $36.62 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $32.50 and a twelve month high of $45.31. The business’s fifty day moving average is $35.89 and its 200 day moving average is $38.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $138.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s payout ratio is 31.81%.

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.