Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Cuts Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund cut its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 327,241 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 3,530 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Comcast were worth $12,281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in Comcast by 5.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,904,647,000 after purchasing an additional 6,062,658 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,871,235 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,331,192,000 after buying an additional 416,759 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Comcast by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 30,364,136 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,268,310,000 after buying an additional 1,717,762 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 15,983,230 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $667,620,000 after acquiring an additional 822,936 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its position in Comcast by 4.8% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 14,918,501 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $623,146,000 after acquiring an additional 676,920 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BNP Paribas raised shares of Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Comcast currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.83.

Comcast Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of CMCSA stock opened at $35.85 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.50 and a fifty-two week high of $45.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.55 billion, a PE ratio of 8.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.55.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted 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%. Equities analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors 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 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 3.68%. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 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.