Legato Capital Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Legato Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 25.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 46,145 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 15,466 shares during the period. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bollard Group LLC lifted its position in Comcast by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 36,996 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,622,000 after buying an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Comcast by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 5,801 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $254,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Laraway Financial Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Laraway Financial Advisors Inc now owns 13,150 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $577,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verum Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 4.9% during the second quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 5,663 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of Comcast stock traded up $0.04 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $40.29. 4,247,438 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,932,977. The stock has a market cap of $158.08 billion, a PE ratio of 10.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $38.96 and its 200 day moving average is $39.96. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.66.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $29.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.02 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 12.46% and a return on equity of 20.17%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 32.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BNP Paribas cut shares of Comcast from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $44.00 price target for the company. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Pivotal Research dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Comcast currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.78.

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.