Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Shares Sold by Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC decreased its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,545,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 53,600 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $57,996,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CMCSA. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 173.6% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,418,064 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $59,237,000 after purchasing an additional 899,716 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Comcast during the third quarter worth approximately $451,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Comcast in the third quarter worth approximately $1,535,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Comcast in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Sora Investors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,998,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $33.38 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.50 and a fifty-two week high of $45.31. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $35.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.87. The firm has a market cap of $126.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. On average, analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.33 dividend. 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. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.95%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America lowered Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie reduced their price objective on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Loop Capital reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.08.

About Comcast

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.