Appleton Partners Inc. MA Sells 966 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA lessened its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 12.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,676 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 966 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Comcast were worth $261,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter worth about $2,542,988,000. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Comcast by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 107,773,317 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $4,725,926,000 after purchasing an additional 15,625,543 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its stake in Comcast by 25,881.7% in the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 10,850,995 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $470,391,000 after purchasing an additional 10,809,231 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Comcast by 41.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,016,389 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,214,512,000 after purchasing an additional 8,243,302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in Comcast by 80.9% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,542,253 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $457,007,000 after purchasing an additional 4,714,586 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Trading Down 0.9 %

CMCSA traded down $0.36 during trading on Friday, reaching $39.90. 25,951,665 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,184,204. The stock has a market capitalization of $154.51 billion, a PE ratio of 10.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a one year low of $36.43 and a one year high of $47.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $38.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.56.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $29.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.02 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 12.46% and a return on equity of 20.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.80%.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

In related news, major shareholder Corp Comcast sold 3,176,923 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.19, for a total transaction of $10,134,384.37. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,000,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,380,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on CMCSA. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Pivotal Research dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $47.25 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.01.

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.