BlackRock Inc. Has $11.98 Billion Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

BlackRock Inc. reduced its position in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 3.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 316,065,918 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 11,309,776 shares during the quarter. BlackRock Inc. owned 7.58% of Comcast worth $11,982,059,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 10.5% during the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 120,957 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $4,585,000 after purchasing an additional 11,464 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 342,450 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $12,982,000 after buying an additional 6,446 shares during the period. HBC Financial Services PLLC grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 109.7% during the 1st quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 1,151 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 602 shares in the last quarter. WMS Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 12.7% in the first quarter. WMS Partners LLC now owns 15,579 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $591,000 after acquiring an additional 1,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clark Financial Services Group Inc. BD purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast during the first quarter worth $203,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.85% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA traded up $0.60 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $45.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 12,673,426 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,568,908. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $28.39 and a fifty-two week high of $47.46. The company has a market capitalization of $186.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The cable giant reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.15. Comcast had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 19.79%. The business had revenue of $30.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. Comcast’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 3.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 4th will be paid a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 3rd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CMCSA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Comcast from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Credit Suisse Group lifted their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Comcast from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Comcast from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.88.

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, advertising sales, and Sky channels.