Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Decreases Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lessened its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 15.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 691,598 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 129,466 shares during the quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $28,888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its position in Comcast by 25,881.7% during the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 10,850,995 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $470,391,000 after acquiring an additional 10,809,231 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Comcast by 41.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,016,389 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,214,512,000 after purchasing an additional 8,243,302 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Comcast by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 115,703,280 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,015,737,000 after buying an additional 7,929,963 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Comcast by 80.9% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,542,253 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $457,007,000 after buying an additional 4,714,586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 92.1% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,722,620 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $339,223,000 after acquiring an additional 4,182,525 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of Comcast stock traded up $0.16 on Friday, reaching $41.26. 10,447,759 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,735,881. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $36.43 and a 1-year high of $47.11. The firm has a market cap of $159.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company’s 50-day moving average is $39.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.50.

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

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Comcast from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.55.

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.