Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 1,127,301 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 13.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,999,193 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 1,127,301 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.18% of Comcast worth $262,680,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 832,594 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $34,810,000 after acquiring an additional 132,442 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in Comcast by 6.0% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,040,565 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $43,464,000 after purchasing an additional 58,785 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC lifted its position in Comcast by 5.3% during the third quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 23,226 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,177 shares during the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 19,659 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $821,000 after buying an additional 491 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 33.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,099 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $464,000 after buying an additional 2,751 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on CMCSA. Benchmark lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America lowered Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.13.

Comcast Stock Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $35.39 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $32.50 and a 1-year high of $45.31. The company has a 50-day moving average of $36.93 and a 200 day moving average of $39.70. The firm has a market cap of $133.81 billion, a PE ratio of 8.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) 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, research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is 29.88%.

Insider Activity at Comcast

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Comcast Company 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.