Hartford Investment Management Co. Trims Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Hartford Investment Management Co. trimmed its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 235,878 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 7,268 shares during the period. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $8,853,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. World Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 904.0% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $10,632,000 after acquiring an additional 229,192 shares during the last quarter. Robinson Value Management Ltd. increased its position in Comcast by 136.7% during the 4th quarter. Robinson Value Management Ltd. now owns 102,360 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,842,000 after purchasing an additional 59,107 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in Comcast by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 171,440 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $7,161,000 after purchasing an additional 22,684 shares in the last quarter. Private Management Group Inc. increased its position in Comcast by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 855,787 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $32,118,000 after purchasing an additional 24,827 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC increased its position in Comcast by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,920,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $80,232,000 after purchasing an additional 68,139 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of CMCSA opened at $35.23 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $133.21 billion, a PE ratio of 8.49, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $37.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.68. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $32.50 and a twelve month high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. As a group, research analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.33 dividend. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.75%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.88%.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

In other Comcast news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were 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 $22,779,218.91. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on CMCSA. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Macquarie reduced their target price on Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Benchmark reduced their target price on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Ten investment 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.13.

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.