Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Shares Sold by LGT Capital Partners LTD.

LGT Capital Partners LTD. cut its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,262,530 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 21,130 shares during the quarter. Comcast makes up approximately 1.7% of LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $55,362,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at $1,798,173,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 121,265.4% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 25,530,426 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $892,799,000 after buying an additional 25,509,390 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 53,653,778 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,876,273,000 after purchasing an additional 7,084,451 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Comcast by 62.6% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 15,271,853 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $715,028,000 after acquiring an additional 5,880,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 229.6% during the second quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 6,369,912 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $264,670,000 after purchasing an additional 4,437,276 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of CMCSA stock opened at $43.35 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a 12-month low of $36.38 and a 12-month high of $47.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $43.09 and a 200-day moving average of $43.22.

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

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 114,749 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total value of $5,289,928.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMCSA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Comcast from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.68.

Comcast 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.