Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 714 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,330 shares of the cable giant’s stock after buying an additional 714 shares during the quarter. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,932,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Steph & Co. lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 154.6% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 611 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Comcast in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Comcast by 204.7% during the 2nd quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 777 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the period. Finally, Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Comcast in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $44.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Macquarie reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.78.

Comcast Price Performance

CMCSA stock opened at $39.55 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.11. The stock has a market cap of $153.16 billion, a PE ratio of 10.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.74.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.09. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.17% and a net margin of 12.46%. The business had revenue of $29.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.14%. Comcast’s payout ratio is 32.80%.

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.