Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Boosts Stock Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 77.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,594,006 shares of the cable giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,568,995 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Comcast were worth $140,741,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Comcast during the fourth quarter valued at $2,056,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Comcast by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 11,304,304 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $495,694,000 after acquiring an additional 368,685 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,027 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,411,000 after acquiring an additional 1,550 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 191,846 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $7,513,000 after acquiring an additional 15,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the first quarter worth approximately $4,117,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Comcast Stock Down 1.0 %

CMCSA opened at $41.30 on Thursday. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.43 and a fifty-two week high of $47.11. 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 stock has a market cap of $162.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $39.86 and its 200 day moving average is $39.56.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.09. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.17% and a net margin of 12.46%. The firm had revenue of $29.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Macquarie reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Comcast from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.58.

Comcast 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.