Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA Sells 489 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lessened its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 17.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,332 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 489 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA’s holdings in Comcast were worth $88,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its stake in Comcast by 18.9% in 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 grew its holdings in Comcast by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 7,873 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its holdings in Comcast by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 959,549 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $40,080,000 after buying an additional 24,968 shares in the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Comcast by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,166 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. grew its holdings in Comcast by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 44,678 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,866,000 after buying an additional 1,033 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

In other news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $284,539,128.48. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the transaction, the president now owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % 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.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $35.38 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.77 billion, a PE ratio of 8.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $32.50 and a twelve month high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its 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 return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. On average, 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 given a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America lowered Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank lowered Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reduced 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. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.13.

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.