St. James Investment Company LLC Reduces Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

St. James Investment Company LLC reduced its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 533,228 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 24,955 shares during the period. Comcast accounts for 3.5% of St. James Investment Company LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. St. James Investment Company LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $20,012,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Comcast during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,835,226,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $743,681,000. Amundi boosted its holdings in Comcast by 147.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 24,086,671 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $895,499,000 after acquiring an additional 14,369,056 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 55,334.5% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $345,565,000 after acquiring an additional 8,258,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Comcast by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 34,101,077 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,279,813,000 after purchasing an additional 2,270,186 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CMCSA. Bank of America lowered shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Loop Capital dropped their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group lowered their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.64.

Comcast Stock Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $36.62 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $32.50 and a 12 month high of $45.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $35.89 and its 200 day moving average is $38.99. The stock has a market cap of $138.46 billion, a PE ratio of 8.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

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

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.