South Dakota Investment Council Grows Stock Position in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

South Dakota Investment Council boosted its stake in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 888,363 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 74,438 shares during the quarter. Comcast accounts for about 0.5% of South Dakota Investment Council’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Comcast were worth $27,912,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital A Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 173.7% in the second quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 687 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 436 shares during the period. Avalon Trust Co boosted its position in Comcast by 433.3% during the 2nd quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 768 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 624 shares during the period. Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in shares of Comcast in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Comcast during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Total Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast during the second quarter worth about $33,000. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on CMCSA. Bank of America raised Comcast from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $37.50 to $35.25 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.87.

Comcast Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $30.82 on Tuesday. Comcast Corporation has a 1 year low of $25.75 and a 1 year high of $37.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.89 and a 200 day moving average of $29.99. The stock has a market cap of $110.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.79.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $32.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.35 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 16.17% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.96 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.3%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.58%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.66, for a total value of $1,892,549.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 622,336 shares in the company, valued at $20,325,493.76. The trade was a 8.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Comcast Profile

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is a diversified global media and technology company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its principal operations are organized around Comcast Cable, which provides broadband internet, video, voice and wireless services to residential and business customers in the United States under the Xfinity and Comcast Business brands, and NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment group that develops, produces and distributes content across broadcast and cable networks, film, and streaming platforms.

NBCUniversal’s assets include the NBC broadcast network, a portfolio of cable channels, Universal Pictures and other film and television production businesses, and the Peacock streaming service.