Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Grows Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,353,759 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 135,845 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.09% of Comcast worth $125,867,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Comcast by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,525,452 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $245,814,000 after acquiring an additional 426,874 shares in the last quarter. Korea Investment CORP increased its position in shares of Comcast by 57.3% in the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 2,810,878 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $105,492,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023,396 shares during the last quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 6,447 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 1,200,136 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $45,041,000 after purchasing an additional 87,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. grew its stake in Comcast by 64.2% in the fourth quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 17,673 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $663,000 after purchasing an additional 6,911 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on CMCSA. BNP Paribas raised Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Benchmark dropped their price target on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America downgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.64.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $37.37 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $35.89 and a 200-day moving average of $39.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $141.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $32.50 and a twelve month high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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, analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 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.