Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. Reduces Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. reduced its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 14,980 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 1,130 shares during the period. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $562,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Winch Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Comcast during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 54.8% in the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 814 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on CMCSA. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.83.

Comcast Stock Performance

CMCSA opened at $35.90 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $36.32 and its 200 day moving average is $39.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $135.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.65, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a 12-month low of $32.50 and a 12-month high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 research analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a $0.33 dividend. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.68%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.81%.

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.