Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Has $79.67 Million Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lowered its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 62.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,907,387 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 3,150,858 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $79,672,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 55,334.5% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $345,565,000 after purchasing an additional 8,258,128 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Comcast by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $4,904,647,000 after purchasing an additional 6,062,658 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 4,182,525 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 530.5% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,429,298 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $143,242,000 after buying an additional 2,885,370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Darsana Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 26.7% in the second quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 9,500,000 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $372,020,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

CMCSA stock opened at $39.92 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $42.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.73, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.99. Comcast Co. has a 12-month low of $36.43 and a 12-month high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 33.33%.

Insider Activity at Comcast

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp upped their price target on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Macquarie lifted their price objective on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.19.

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.