Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC Lowers Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 9.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,681 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 10,018 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $3,403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Taurus Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Taurus Asset Management LLC now owns 9,125 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Comcast by 3.1% in the third quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,445 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $353,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Comcast by 4.7% during the third quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,829 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. grew its stake in Comcast by 1.0% during the third quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. now owns 27,211 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,137,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its position in shares of Comcast by 14.8% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 2,183 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the president now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was 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 directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $284,539,128.48. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CMCSA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their target price on Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.13.

Comcast Stock Performance

Comcast stock opened at $34.90 on Thursday. 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $32.50 and a 12 month high of $45.31. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $37.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.82. The company has a market cap of $131.96 billion, a PE ratio of 8.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. 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. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.78%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is 29.88%.

Comcast 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.