State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Has $53.57 Million Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,427,438 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 30,577 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Comcast were worth $53,572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Comcast by 904.0% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $10,632,000 after buying an additional 229,192 shares during the last quarter. Robinson Value Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of 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 increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 15.2% in 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 last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $32,118,000 after purchasing an additional 24,827 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 3.7% in the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,920,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $80,232,000 after purchasing an additional 68,139 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on CMCSA shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Benchmark decreased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. BNP Paribas raised shares of Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.13.

Comcast Trading Up 0.0 %

CMCSA opened at $35.39 on Monday. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $32.50 and a twelve month high of $45.31. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. Analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 29.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

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.