New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Boosts Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 21.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 263,016 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,600 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Comcast were worth $12,314,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter worth $2,542,988,000. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 107,773,317 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $4,725,926,000 after acquiring an additional 15,625,543 shares during the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 116.8% in the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 5,145,838 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $227,034,000 after acquiring an additional 2,772,190 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 215.7% in the fourth quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 3,622,246 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $158,835,000 after acquiring an additional 2,474,946 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathstone Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter worth $108,332,000. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CMCSA shares. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Comcast from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Comcast from $47.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Comcast in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $44.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.62.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA traded up $0.88 during trading on Friday, hitting $39.16. The company had a trading volume of 38,288,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,560,456. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.59. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 12.64%. The firm had revenue of $30.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $29.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Comcast news, major shareholder Corp Comcast sold 3,176,923 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.19, for a total transaction of $10,134,384.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,000,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,380,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.