Trexquant Investment LP Sells 122,384 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Trexquant Investment LP lowered its position in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 33.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 247,531 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 122,384 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Comcast were worth $9,290,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Comcast during the fourth quarter valued at $3,835,226,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Comcast by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 85,812,139 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,212,244,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,272 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Comcast by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 34,101,077 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,279,813,000 after purchasing an additional 2,270,186 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Comcast by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 32,709,601 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,227,591,000 after purchasing an additional 838,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Comcast by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 24,725,355 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $927,943,000 after purchasing an additional 158,639 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $36.61 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $138.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $35.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.94. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.50 and a fifty-two week high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CMCSA. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities cut their target price on Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Comcast from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.64.

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.