Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Shares Sold by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 604,077 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 7,888 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Comcast were worth $23,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,542,988,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 107,773,317 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $4,725,926,000 after buying an additional 15,625,543 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its holdings in Comcast by 25,881.7% in the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 10,850,995 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $470,391,000 after buying an additional 10,809,231 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Comcast by 41.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,016,389 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,214,512,000 after acquiring an additional 8,243,302 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in Comcast by 80.9% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,542,253 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $457,007,000 after acquiring an additional 4,714,586 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Seaport Res Ptn cut Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.78.

Comcast Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA traded down $0.19 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $39.61. The company had a trading volume of 18,549,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,988,055. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.85. The firm has a market cap of $155.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $36.43 and a 1-year 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.

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

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is 32.80%.

About Comcast

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.