Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Increases Stake in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,179,697 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 106,921 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.11% of Comcast worth $131,326,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CMCSA. Capital A Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Comcast by 173.7% during the second quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 687 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. Avalon Trust Co boosted its stake in Comcast by 433.3% during the second quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 768 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 624 shares during the last quarter. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in Comcast during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in Comcast in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Total Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Barclays set a $28.00 target price on shares of Comcast and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Arete Research set a $23.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Moffett Nathanson reduced their price objective on Comcast from $58.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Comcast from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Comcast currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.87.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $30.96 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a market capitalization of $111.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.77, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.81. Comcast Corporation has a 12 month low of $25.75 and a 12 month high of $37.97. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $29.86 and its 200 day moving average is $30.04.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.09. Comcast had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 16.17%.The business had revenue of $32.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.58%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.66, for a total transaction of $1,892,549.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 622,336 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,325,493.76. The trade was a 8.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.32% of the company’s stock.

About Comcast

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is a diversified global media and technology company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its principal operations are organized around Comcast Cable, which provides broadband internet, video, voice and wireless services to residential and business customers in the United States under the Xfinity and Comcast Business brands, and NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment group that develops, produces and distributes content across broadcast and cable networks, film, and streaming platforms.

NBCUniversal’s assets include the NBC broadcast network, a portfolio of cable channels, Universal Pictures and other film and television production businesses, and the Peacock streaming service.