Cascades Capital Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Cascades Capital Asset Management LLC reduced its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,433 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 521 shares during the quarter. Cascades Capital Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 173.6% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,418,064 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $59,237,000 after acquiring an additional 899,716 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast during the third quarter valued at approximately $451,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Comcast in the third quarter worth approximately $1,535,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Comcast during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Sora Investors LLC bought a new position in Comcast in the 3rd quarter worth $25,998,000. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Comcast Stock Down 6.6 %

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $33.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $32.50 and a 1-year high of $45.31. The company has a 50-day moving average of $35.76 and a 200 day moving average of $38.87. The firm has a market cap of $126.21 billion, a PE ratio of 8.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.33 dividend. 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 3.95%. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 31.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on CMCSA shares. Scotiabank cut Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Benchmark dropped their price objective on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Macquarie cut their price target 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 a consensus target price of $43.08.

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.