Huntington National Bank Decreases Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Huntington National Bank decreased its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 20.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 365,089 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 93,274 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Comcast were worth $13,702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Comcast during the fourth quarter worth about $3,835,226,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter worth approximately $743,681,000. Amundi raised its position in shares of Comcast by 147.9% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 24,086,671 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $895,499,000 after purchasing an additional 14,369,056 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its stake in Comcast by 55,334.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $345,565,000 after buying an additional 8,258,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 2,270,186 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on CMCSA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America downgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Comcast currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.64.

Comcast Stock Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $36.61 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $35.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.94. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.50 and a fifty-two week high of $45.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $138.42 billion, a PE ratio of 8.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, sell-side analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio 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.