Dodge & Cox Buys 5,039,823 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Dodge & Cox grew its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 79,102,667 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,039,823 shares during the period. Comcast accounts for approximately 1.7% of Dodge & Cox’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Dodge & Cox’s holdings in Comcast were worth $2,968,723,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CMCSA. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Comcast by 904.0% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $10,632,000 after purchasing an additional 229,192 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at about $743,681,000. Bfsg LLC lifted its position in Comcast by 752.8% during the fourth quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 83,366 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,129,000 after purchasing an additional 73,590 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP grew its stake in Comcast by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 43,509 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,633,000 after buying an additional 3,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robinson Value Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Comcast by 136.7% in the 4th quarter. Robinson Value Management Ltd. now owns 102,360 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,842,000 after buying an additional 59,107 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on CMCSA shares. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.50.

Comcast Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of CMCSA stock opened at $34.15 on Tuesday. Comcast Co. has a 1 year low of $32.20 and a 1 year high of $45.31. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.23, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s payout ratio is 31.81%.

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.