New York State Common Retirement Fund Lowers Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,204,742 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 433,165 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.16% of Comcast worth $259,172,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Comcast by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,027 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,550 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 191,846 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $7,513,000 after buying an additional 15,664 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas acquired a new stake in Comcast in the 1st quarter valued at $4,117,000. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its holdings in Comcast by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $92,331,000 after acquiring an additional 15,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its position in Comcast by 3,816.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 558,382 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $21,866,000 after acquiring an additional 544,123 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Comcast from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.60.

Comcast Trading Up 1.7 %

CMCSA stock traded up $0.73 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $44.40. 2,666,809 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,575,445. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.94 billion, a PE ratio of 11.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.01. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $36.43 and a 1-year high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.17% and a net margin of 12.46%. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.98%.

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.