Empyrean Capital Partners LP Raises Holdings in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Empyrean Capital Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 54.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,345,000 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 476,300 shares during the quarter. Comcast makes up 1.3% of Empyrean Capital Partners LP’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Empyrean Capital Partners LP’s holdings in Comcast were worth $38,615,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Imprint Wealth LLC bought a new position in Comcast during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 75.5% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 932 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the period. Main Street Group LTD purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 212.6% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,016 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Trading Up 2.2%

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $22.80 on Tuesday. Comcast Corporation has a 52 week low of $21.28 and a 52 week high of $34.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $23.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $81.45 billion, a PE ratio of 7.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.67.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.07. Comcast had a net margin of 8.97% and a return on equity of 14.77%. The company had revenue of $29.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.24 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. Comcast’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Comcast Corporation will post 3.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 7th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CMCSA has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Comcast in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $29.00 price target on Comcast in a report on Friday. Seaport Research Partners raised Comcast from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, New Street Research decreased their price objective on Comcast from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.96.

About Comcast

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.