Bank of Nova Scotia Sells 631,888 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 36.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,088,915 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 631,888 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Comcast were worth $40,867,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. FIL Ltd grew its stake in Comcast by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 556,273 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $20,877,000 after buying an additional 28,527 shares during the last quarter. Canopy Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Comcast in the fourth quarter worth about $206,000. Twin Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 134,512 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,048,000 after acquiring an additional 2,156 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,175,969 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,695,454,000 after acquiring an additional 4,669,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clarkston Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Comcast by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Clarkston Capital Partners LLC now owns 678,694 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $25,471,000 after purchasing an additional 2,652 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CMCSA. UBS Group cut their price target 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. Scotiabank upped their target price on Comcast from $44.50 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas raised 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. Barclays cut their price objective on Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Macquarie decreased their target price on Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Comcast has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.10.

Comcast Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of CMCSA opened at $32.84 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $124.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.91, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $32.38 and a 12 month high of $45.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $35.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio 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.