Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Sells 3,530 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 327,241 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 3,530 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Comcast were worth $12,281,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Comcast by 904.0% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $10,632,000 after buying an additional 229,192 shares in the last quarter. Bfsg LLC grew its position in Comcast by 752.8% during the 4th quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 83,366 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,129,000 after acquiring an additional 73,590 shares during the last quarter. Robinson Value Management Ltd. lifted its position in Comcast by 136.7% in the fourth quarter. Robinson Value Management Ltd. now owns 102,360 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,842,000 after purchasing an additional 59,107 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 15.2% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 171,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $7,161,000 after purchasing an additional 22,684 shares during the period. Finally, Private Management Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 855,787 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $32,118,000 after buying an additional 24,827 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on CMCSA shares. Scotiabank cut shares of Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 price objective on Comcast in a report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.83.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $35.85 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.64, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $36.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.55. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $32.50 and a 52 week high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors 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 is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. Comcast’s payout ratio is 31.81%.

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.