Impax Asset Management Group plc Boosts Stock Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 145.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 42,919 shares of the cable giant's stock after purchasing an additional 25,419 shares during the quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc's holdings in Comcast were worth $1,793,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 7.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 115,703,280 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $5,015,737,000 after buying an additional 7,929,963 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Comcast by 2.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 38,329,384 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $1,500,722,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,626 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Comcast by 41.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,016,389 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $1,214,512,000 after purchasing an additional 8,243,302 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its position in Comcast by 25,881.7% during the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 10,850,995 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $470,391,000 after purchasing an additional 10,809,231 shares during the period. Finally, First Pacific Advisors LP lifted its position in Comcast by 2.1% during the second quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP now owns 10,818,009 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $423,633,000 after purchasing an additional 219,894 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Pivotal Research upped their target price on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com cut shares of Comcast from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Comcast from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and raised their target price for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Comcast currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $46.75.

Comcast Price Performance

CMCSA stock traded up $2.58 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $45.14. 30,963,361 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,729,793. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $174.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $36.43 and a 52 week high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The business's revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. Comcast's payout ratio is 33.33%.

Comcast Company 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.