Valley Wealth Managers Inc. Cuts Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lowered its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 88,128 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 534 shares during the quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $3,307,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Comcast by 269.9% during the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Comcast during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Comcast during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Comcast by 365.4% in the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Comcast during the third quarter valued at $30,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

In related news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMCSA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America lowered Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $50.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup dropped their target price on Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Macquarie dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.13.

Comcast Stock Performance

Comcast stock opened at $35.39 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $133.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.50 and a fifty-two week high of $45.31. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.70.

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, equities research analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is 29.88%.

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.