Legal & General Group Plc Has $917.62 Million Stock Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 20.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 24,450,324 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 6,358,645 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.65% of Comcast worth $917,621,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at $3,835,226,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Comcast by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,175,969 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,695,454,000 after purchasing an additional 4,669,069 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Comcast by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 34,101,077 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,279,813,000 after buying an additional 2,270,186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Comcast by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 32,709,601 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,227,591,000 after buying an additional 838,366 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on CMCSA shares. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America downgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $50.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie lowered their price target on Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.08.

Comcast Price Performance

Comcast stock opened at $33.38 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $35.76 and its 200 day moving average is $38.87. Comcast Co. has a one year low of $32.50 and a one year high of $45.31. The firm has a market cap of $126.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. As a group, research analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. 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 3.95%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.81%.

About Comcast

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.