Patten & Patten Inc. TN Sells 8,160 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Patten & Patten Inc. TN trimmed its position in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 10.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 67,773 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 8,160 shares during the quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings in Comcast were worth $2,544,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Comcast by 0.8% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 84,230 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $3,518,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 145.3% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 42,919 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,793,000 after acquiring an additional 25,419 shares during the period. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Comcast by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,016 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp raised its stake in Comcast by 71.7% during the 3rd quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 1,394 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 582 shares during the period. Finally, Coastline Trust Co lifted its holdings in Comcast by 2.1% during the third quarter. Coastline Trust Co now owns 60,305 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,519,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on CMCSA. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank downgraded Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.83.

Comcast Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $35.43 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $32.50 and a 1-year high of $45.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The business’s 50 day moving average is $35.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.54, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date 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%.

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.