Altfest L J & Co. Inc. Sells 5,809 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. lowered its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 26.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 5,809 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $722,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 53,491 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,223,000 after acquiring an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Comcast during the 3rd quarter valued at $8,868,000. CIC Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Comcast by 42.8% in the third quarter. CIC Wealth LLC now owns 8,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 2,638 shares in the last quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Comcast during the third quarter valued at $90,000. Finally, Camarda Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Comcast in the second quarter valued at about $1,381,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 114,749 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total value of $5,289,928.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $43.24. 4,615,562 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,012,971. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.74 billion, a PE ratio of 11.63, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.98. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $36.38 and a 1-year high of $47.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $43.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.22.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $31.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.41 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.75% and a net margin of 12.66%. Research analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 31.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Comcast from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 22nd. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.68.

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.