Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Decreases Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd lowered its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 18.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 187,367 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 41,602 shares during the quarter. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd’s holdings in Comcast were worth $6,988,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 904.0% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $10,632,000 after purchasing an additional 229,192 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Comcast by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 171,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $7,161,000 after purchasing an additional 22,684 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its holdings in Comcast by 3.7% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,920,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $80,232,000 after buying an additional 68,139 shares in the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $92,331,000 after acquiring an additional 15,807 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,541,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank raised Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Macquarie dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

Comcast Stock Up 1.2 %

CMCSA opened at $33.66 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a 1 year low of $32.50 and a 1 year high of $47.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $38.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $128.80 billion, a PE ratio of 9.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. Sell-side analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.