Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 11,872,031 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA trimmed its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 21.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,421,190 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 11,872,031 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,813,703,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cornerstone Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 218,100 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $9,110,000 after buying an additional 22,800 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its holdings in Comcast by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 286,802 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $11,980,000 after acquiring an additional 1,443 shares during the period. Payden & Rygel lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 51.9% during the third quarter. Payden & Rygel now owns 29,570 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,235,000 after acquiring an additional 10,100 shares in the last quarter. Altman Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 1.6% in the third quarter. Altman Advisors Inc. now owns 44,662 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,866,000 after acquiring an additional 718 shares during the period. Finally, Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast in the third quarter valued at $1,328,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CMCSA. Pivotal Research upped their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Comcast from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.19.

Comcast Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of CMCSA opened at $42.99 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a 1 year low of $36.43 and a 1 year high of $47.11. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.97.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.88%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.33%.

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.