Tradewinds LLC. Decreases Stock Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Tradewinds LLC. lowered its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,468 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 725 shares during the quarter. Tradewinds LLC.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $577,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Comcast in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,777,000. FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast in the third quarter worth $60,000. Paloma Partners Management Co grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 226.8% during the third quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co now owns 175,000 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $7,310,000 after buying an additional 121,450 shares during the last quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 0.7% during the third quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC now owns 165,273 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $6,903,000 after buying an additional 1,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in Comcast by 290.6% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 149,314 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $6,237,000 after acquiring an additional 111,092 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Benchmark dropped their price target on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.64.

Comcast Price Performance

Comcast stock opened at $36.90 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $139.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.89, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $35.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.98. Comcast Co. has a 12-month low of $32.50 and a 12-month high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.81%.

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.