Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp Reduces Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp reduced its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 274,087 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 4,751 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in Comcast were worth $11,448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,584 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,277,000 after acquiring an additional 249 shares during the period. Taurus Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Comcast by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 9,125 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,445 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $353,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Comcast by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,829 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Greenwich Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Comcast by 2.7% in the second quarter. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,754 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank raised shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.19.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction 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 owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of CMCSA 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 fifty day simple moving average is $42.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.32. The firm 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 twelve month low of $36.43 and a twelve month high of $47.11.

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

Comcast Announces Dividend

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

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.