Clarius Group LLC Decreases Holdings in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Clarius Group LLC lessened its stake in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 31.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,757 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 6,850 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $545,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 141,680,277 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,317,167,000 after purchasing an additional 11,255,683 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter worth about $3,835,226,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 85,812,139 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,212,244,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,272 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 79,102,667 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $2,968,723,000 after purchasing an additional 5,039,823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 50,320,446 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,890,027,000 after purchasing an additional 5,402,377 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMCSA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Argus downgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Comcast from $55.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $44.50 price objective (down previously from $45.00) on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.10.

Comcast Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Comcast stock opened at $34.26 on Thursday. Comcast Corporation has a 1 year low of $31.44 and a 1 year high of $45.31. The firm has a market cap of $127.92 billion, a PE ratio of 8.42, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.98.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The cable giant reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $29.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.82 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 12.72% and a return on equity of 19.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.04 EPS. Analysts expect that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 2nd will be issued a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.85%. Comcast’s payout ratio is 32.43%.

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.