Wedmont Private Capital Trims Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Wedmont Private Capital lessened its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 31,071 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 2,947 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,130,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 904.0% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $10,632,000 after purchasing an additional 229,192 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 15.2% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 171,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $7,161,000 after acquiring an additional 22,684 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Comcast by 3.7% during the third quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,920,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $80,232,000 after acquiring an additional 68,139 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 0.7% in the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $92,331,000 after acquiring an additional 15,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in Comcast by 3,816.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 558,382 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $21,866,000 after purchasing an additional 544,123 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMCSA has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, January 4th. Scotiabank raised shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Comcast news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of Comcast stock opened at $36.45 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.80, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $36.24 and a 12 month high of $47.11.

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

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 33.33%.

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.