Chesapeake Wealth Management Lowers Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Chesapeake Wealth Management lowered its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 4.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,352 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 284 shares during the period. Chesapeake Wealth Management’s holdings in Comcast were worth $265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 41.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 8,243,302 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Comcast by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 115,703,280 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,015,737,000 after acquiring an additional 7,929,963 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Comcast by 80.9% in 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 during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Comcast by 92.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,722,620 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $339,223,000 after acquiring an additional 4,182,525 shares during the period. Finally, Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Comcast in the 1st quarter valued at $102,119,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Macquarie lifted their price target on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank upgraded Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Comcast currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.88.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of CMCSA opened at $43.00 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $164.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.43 and a fifty-two week high of $47.11. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.88%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.33%.

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.