Auxier Asset Management Trims Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Auxier Asset Management lessened its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 93,421 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 815 shares during the period. Auxier Asset Management’s holdings in Comcast were worth $3,658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 115,703,280 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,015,737,000 after purchasing an additional 7,929,963 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Comcast by 2.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 38,329,384 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,500,722,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,626 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Comcast by 41.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,016,389 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,214,512,000 after purchasing an additional 8,243,302 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P increased its position in shares of Comcast by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 18,873,787 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $827,616,000 after buying an additional 1,854,671 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 11,304,304 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $495,694,000 after buying an additional 368,685 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. BNP Paribas cut Comcast from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Macquarie restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays dropped their price target on Comcast from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.78.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of Comcast stock opened at $40.11 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.66. Comcast Co. has a one year low of $36.43 and a one year high of $47.11. The company has a market cap of $157.38 billion, a PE ratio of 10.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.01.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $29.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.02 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 12.46% and a return on equity of 20.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 32.80%.

Comcast Profile

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.