WASHINGTON TRUST Co Sells 11,243 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co reduced its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 249,294 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 11,243 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Comcast were worth $9,356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 269.9% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Comcast during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Comcast by 365.4% in the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Comcast during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 220.3% during the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 759 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America cut shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Ten investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.13.

Comcast Trading Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $35.39 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.53, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $32.50 and a 1-year high of $45.31. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $37.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.81%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $284,539,128.48. This 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 at this hyperlink. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the sale, the president now owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.