In this article, we discuss the 5 best dividend stocks according to Anthony Bozza’s Lakewood Capital Management. If you want to read our detailed analysis of the hedge fund as well as five of its other top dividend stock picks, check out 10 Best Dividend Stocks According to Anthony Bozza’s Lakewood Capital.
5. Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 80
Dividend Yield as of February 24: 2.39%
Lakewood Capital’s Stake Value: $54,291,000
Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA), an American multinational tech company, experienced positive hedge fund sentiment in Q4, as 80 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held stakes in the company as of December 31, up from 75 a quarter earlier. The total value of those stakes was over $8.6 billion.
On January 27, Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) raised its quarterly dividend by 8%, marking the company’s 14th consecutive year of dividend growth. The company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.27 per share, which yields 2.39% as of February 24. This January, Cowen raised its price target on Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) to $64, while maintaining an ‘Overweight’ rating on the shares.
Lakewood Capital started its investment in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) during the first quarter of 2015, owning shares worth $18.6 million at that time. Following the close of Q4 2021, the hedge fund held a stake worth $54.3 million after increasing its position in the company by 5% to nearly 1.08 million shares. Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) accounted for 2.3% of Anthony Bozza’s 13F portfolio value.
ClearBridge Investments mentioned Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in its Q2 2021 investor letter. Here is what the firm had to say:
“We funded the shift primarily with trims in Comcast following big gains in this name. Comcast is a long-term holding that have been and remain core holdings. During the quarter, however, we took gains and resized the positions to reflect their current risk-reward post strong increases in the stocks.
Comcast, like Blackstone, has been a meaningful long-term holding whose stock performance has at times lagged its robust fundamental performance. Over the last nine months the stock price caught up some with the fundamentals and looked like it had more room to run. Our thesis on the name evolved, however, following the May 17 announcement that competitor Discovery was merging its operations with Time Warner. This deal positions the new company as a credible competitor to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and Disney, and results in Comcast being left without the proverbial dance partner in the evolving pay TV/DTC landscape. While we continue to believe Comcast’s cable systems business is well-positioned and that NBCUniversal remains valuable, the competitive dynamic for NBCUniversal has stiffened. Our reduced position size reflects both our continued enthusiasm for many parts of the franchise and emerging concerns given the evolving pay TV/DTC landscape.”
