Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Stake Increased by Washington Trust Bank

Washington Trust Bank grew its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 269,708 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,256 shares during the period. Washington Trust Bank’s holdings in Comcast were worth $11,266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 25,881.7% during the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 10,850,995 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $470,391,000 after acquiring an additional 10,809,231 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 41.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,016,389 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,214,512,000 after acquiring an additional 8,243,302 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 7.4% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 115,703,280 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,015,737,000 after acquiring an additional 7,929,963 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 80.9% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,542,253 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $457,007,000 after acquiring an additional 4,714,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 92.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,722,620 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $339,223,000 after acquiring an additional 4,182,525 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Trading Down 1.1 %

CMCSA stock traded down $0.48 during trading on Thursday, hitting $44.66. The company had a trading volume of 184,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,639,811. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.66. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.11. The stock has a market cap of $172.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.13, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. Comcast’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s payout ratio is 33.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen cut their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Comcast from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays raised their target price on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.75.

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.