Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. cut its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,407 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 872 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $991,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 5.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $4,904,647,000 after buying an additional 6,062,658 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Comcast by 1.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,871,235 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,331,192,000 after acquiring an additional 416,759 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 30,364,136 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,268,310,000 after acquiring an additional 1,717,762 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its position in shares of Comcast by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 15,983,230 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $667,620,000 after acquiring an additional 822,936 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 14,918,501 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $623,146,000 after purchasing an additional 676,920 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on CMCSA shares. Citigroup cut their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.13.

Comcast Stock Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $35.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $36.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.70. Comcast Co. has a one year low of $32.50 and a one year high of $45.31. The company has a market capitalization of $133.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is 29.88%.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

In other news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. The trade was 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.

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.