Franklin Resources Inc. Boosts Holdings in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,646,533 shares of the cable giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,599,470 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $736,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Comcast in the 4th quarter worth $2,498,626,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Comcast by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 140,343,399 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,194,929,000 after buying an additional 24,166,881 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 65.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 55,664,933 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,663,825,000 after buying an additional 21,958,603 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 4.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 180,687,135 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,677,190,000 after buying an additional 7,917,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 2,970.5% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,394,728 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $221,028,000 after buying an additional 7,153,895 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of CMCSA opened at $23.76 on Tuesday. Comcast Corporation has a 1-year low of $23.13 and a 1-year high of $36.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $26.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.68, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.68.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The cable giant reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The company had revenue of $31.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.09 earnings per share. Comcast’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Comcast Corporation will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 1st will be paid a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 1st. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Comcast from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $34.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Comcast from $33.00 to $35.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.56.

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.