Zacks Investment Management Sells 86,367 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Zacks Investment Management decreased its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,220,968 shares of the cable giant's stock after selling 86,367 shares during the quarter. Zacks Investment Management's holdings in Comcast were worth $45,823,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at $3,835,226,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 85,812,139 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $3,212,244,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,272 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox raised its position in shares of Comcast by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 79,102,667 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $2,968,723,000 after acquiring an additional 5,039,823 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,175,969 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $1,695,454,000 after acquiring an additional 4,669,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 34,101,077 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $1,279,813,000 after acquiring an additional 2,270,186 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMCSA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, January 31st. BNP Paribas cut shares of Comcast from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Bank of America cut Comcast from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie cut their target price on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.50.

Comcast Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of Comcast stock traded down $0.64 on Monday, reaching $33.37. 6,913,695 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,679,827. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $35.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $32.20 and a 1-year high of $45.31. The company has a market cap of $126.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Comcast's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast's payout ratio is currently 31.81%.

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.