Godshalk Welsh Capital Management Inc. Decreases Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Godshalk Welsh Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,754 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Godshalk Welsh Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $479,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in Comcast by 30.0% during the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 427,120 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $17,841,000 after buying an additional 98,605 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,558,230 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $190,397,000 after acquiring an additional 219,976 shares during the period. Cadence Bank raised its position in Comcast by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 162,607 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $6,792,000 after purchasing an additional 2,335 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in Comcast by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 400,315 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $16,721,000 after purchasing an additional 15,532 shares during the period. Finally, Hardy Reed LLC grew its position in Comcast by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Hardy Reed LLC now owns 7,903 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group decreased their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Comcast currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.64.

Comcast Stock Up 1.2 %

CMCSA opened at $37.37 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68. The company has a market cap of $141.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.00, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a one year low of $32.50 and a one year high of $45.31. The business’s fifty day moving average is $35.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.02.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts anticipate 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. Investors 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 yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.81%.

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.