Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Shares Sold by Woodward Diversified Capital LLC

Woodward Diversified Capital LLC trimmed its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 43.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,776 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 5,151 shares during the quarter. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Joel Isaacson & Co. LLC now owns 166,295 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $6,241,000 after purchasing an additional 3,821 shares during the last quarter. Northstar Group Inc. grew its stake in Comcast by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Northstar Group Inc. now owns 7,575 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in Comcast by 508.9% during the fourth quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 52,017 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,952,000 after buying an additional 43,474 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $143,000. Finally, Archer Investment Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 502.4% in the fourth quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 8,398 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $315,000 after acquiring an additional 7,004 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on CMCSA shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.13.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $34.37 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $32.50 and a 12 month high of $45.31. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.89. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

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

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.