MML Investors Services LLC Purchases 10,473 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

MML Investors Services LLC raised its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 702,029 shares of the cable giant's stock after acquiring an additional 10,473 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC's holdings in Comcast were worth $26,347,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Comcast by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 141,680,277 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $5,317,167,000 after buying an additional 11,255,683 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Comcast during the 4th quarter worth $3,835,226,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 85,812,139 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $3,212,244,000 after acquiring an additional 1,006,272 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 79,102,667 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $2,968,723,000 after purchasing an additional 5,039,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,175,969 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $1,695,454,000 after purchasing an additional 4,669,069 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on CMCSA shares. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $55.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Macquarie decreased their price target on Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Comcast from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Comcast currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $41.98.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ CMCSA traded up $0.71 on Friday, hitting $33.90. The stock had a trading volume of 29,316,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,915,069. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $35.40 and a 200-day moving average of $38.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68. Comcast Co. has a 52-week low of $31.44 and a 52-week high of $45.31. The company has a market capitalization of $128.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The cable giant reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. The company had revenue of $29.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.82 billion. Equities analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd were paid a $0.33 dividend. This is an increase from Comcast's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.81%.

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.