Avestar Capital LLC Sells 1,603 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Avestar Capital LLC lowered its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 36,258 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 1,603 shares during the quarter. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its holdings in Comcast by 18.9% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 832,594 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $34,810,000 after acquiring an additional 132,442 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 5.2% during the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 7,873 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 2.7% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 959,549 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $40,080,000 after purchasing an additional 24,968 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 2.2% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,081,809 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $86,957,000 after purchasing an additional 45,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Regatta Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Comcast by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Regatta Capital Group LLC now owns 12,067 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $504,000 after buying an additional 1,118 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMCSA has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI raised shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America lowered Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $50.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.13.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $34.90 on Thursday. Comcast Co. has a 12-month low of $32.50 and a 12-month high of $45.31. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $131.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 29.88%.

Insider Activity

In other Comcast news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

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.