M&G Plc Sells 969,527 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

M&G Plc lowered its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 61.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 620,091 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 969,527 shares during the period. M&G Plc’s holdings in Comcast were worth $26,044,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Comcast in the second quarter valued at $26,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 365.4% during the 3rd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 220.3% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 759 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 204.7% in the 2nd quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Archer Investment Corp grew its position in Comcast by 177.1% during the 2nd quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 812 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on CMCSA. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research raised their price target on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.75.

Comcast Trading Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $44.19 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $36.43 and a 1-year high of $47.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.88, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $41.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.66.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted 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 for 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. Comcast’s payout ratio is 33.33%.

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.