Wright Investors Service Inc. Sells 5,753 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Wright Investors Service Inc. lessened its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 4.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 124,402 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 5,753 shares during the period. Comcast comprises 1.4% of Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $5,196,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 25,881.7% during the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 10,850,995 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $470,391,000 after buying an additional 10,809,231 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 41.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,016,389 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,214,512,000 after purchasing an additional 8,243,302 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 7.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 115,703,280 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,015,737,000 after purchasing an additional 7,929,963 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 80.9% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,542,253 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $457,007,000 after purchasing an additional 4,714,586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 92.1% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,722,620 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $339,223,000 after purchasing an additional 4,182,525 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of CMCSA traded up $0.38 on Friday, hitting $41.19. 13,697,490 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,890,191. The company has a market capitalization of $161.61 billion, a PE ratio of 10.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.54. Comcast Co. has a one year low of $36.43 and a one year high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $29.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.02 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 12.46% and a return on equity of 20.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on CMCSA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. KeyCorp cut their target price on Comcast from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.58.

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.