Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Shares Sold by Bridgewater Associates LP

Bridgewater Associates LP reduced its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 20.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,392,641 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 351,434 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Comcast were worth $58,171,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hardy Reed LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hardy Reed LLC now owns 7,903 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $330,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 400,315 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $16,721,000 after purchasing an additional 15,532 shares in the last quarter. Cadence Bank raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 162,607 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $6,792,000 after purchasing an additional 2,335 shares in the last quarter. Shum Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $392,000. Finally, Avestar Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 37,861 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,581,000 after purchasing an additional 5,396 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CMCSA shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Comcast from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.19.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $42.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $163.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.46, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a one year low of $36.43 and a one year high of $47.11. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $42.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.33%.

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.