Alliancebernstein L.P. Cuts Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lowered its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,631,062 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 226,997 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $699,224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its holdings in Comcast by 3.5% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 134,166 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,604,000 after purchasing an additional 4,586 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP raised its stake in Comcast by 45.7% during the 3rd quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 260,458 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $10,879,000 after acquiring an additional 81,636 shares in the last quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Comcast by 1.1% in the third quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 140,357 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $6,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,545 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in Comcast by 1,783.9% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 3,391 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $142,000 after acquiring an additional 3,211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the third quarter worth about $2,777,000. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMCSA has been the subject of several research reports. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their target price on Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank downgraded Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $44.50 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.64.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $36.62 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.99. 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 $138.46 billion, a PE ratio of 8.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.50 and a fifty-two week high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.60%. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 31.81%.

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.