Candriam S.C.A. Sells 208,620 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Candriam S.C.A. lowered its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 16.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,053,995 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 208,620 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $39,556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in Comcast in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Comcast by 269.9% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Comcast during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on CMCSA. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Benchmark cut their target price on shares of Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $50.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.83.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of Comcast stock opened at $35.56 on Thursday. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.50 and a fifty-two week high of $45.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $36.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.39.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s payout ratio is 31.81%.

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.