Realta Investment Advisors Trims Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Realta Investment Advisors lowered its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 15.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,739 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 485 shares during the period. Realta Investment Advisors’ holdings in Comcast were worth $103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in Comcast by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 832,594 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $34,810,000 after buying an additional 132,442 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 19.7% in the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 34,018 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,380,000 after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Comcast during the third quarter valued at $5,004,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. raised its position in shares of Comcast by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 6,875 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC bought a new position in Comcast in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,690,000. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on CMCSA. Bank of America cut shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays lowered their price objective on Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Benchmark lowered their price target on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.13.

Comcast Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $34.37 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a one year low of $32.50 and a one year high of $45.31. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $37.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $131.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.84%. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 29.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 sale, 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.

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.