Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) is First Pacific Advisors LP’s 5th Largest Position

First Pacific Advisors LP grew its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,868,463 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 62,829 shares during the period. Comcast accounts for 5.8% of First Pacific Advisors LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. First Pacific Advisors LP’s holdings in Comcast were worth $407,893,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. Enterprise Financial Services Corp increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 131.8% in the 4th quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 11,490 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 6,533 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC increased its stake in Comcast by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 17,674 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $663,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. Ruffer LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,077,000. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 887.4% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 11,513 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $432,000 after buying an additional 10,347 shares during the period. Finally, Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL now owns 18,782 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $705,000 after buying an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI raised Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. BNP Paribas raised Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.83.

Comcast Trading Up 3.6 %

Shares of CMCSA stock opened at $37.59 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $142.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.50 and a fifty-two week high of $45.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.34.

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

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend 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.