Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Shares Sold by Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. cut its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 37.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 296,124 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 175,006 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $11,114,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CMCSA. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $743,681,000. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 147.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 24,086,671 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $895,499,000 after purchasing an additional 14,369,056 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 55,334.5% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $345,565,000 after purchasing an additional 8,258,128 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 5.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,904,647,000 after purchasing an additional 6,062,658 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 530.5% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,429,298 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $143,242,000 after purchasing an additional 2,885,370 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CMCSA shares. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.83.

Comcast Stock Performance

Comcast stock opened at $36.11 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $136.53 billion, a PE ratio of 8.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $36.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $32.50 and a 12 month high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 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%. Research 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 issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.66%. Comcast’s payout ratio is 31.81%.

Comcast Company 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.