First Eagle Investment Management LLC Buys 2,270,186 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,101,077 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,270,186 shares during the quarter. Comcast makes up 2.9% of First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned about 0.90% of Comcast worth $1,279,813,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 269.9% in the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on CMCSA shares. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.83.

Comcast Stock Down 1.4 %

CMCSA stock opened at $34.70 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $35.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.23. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $32.50 and a 12 month high of $45.31. The company has a market cap of $131.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. 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 (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Sell-side analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.