HM Payson & Co. Trims Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

HM Payson & Co. lowered its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 50,546 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 848 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $2,191,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CMCSA. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,542,988,000. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 17.0% during 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 during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 25,881.7% during 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 during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 41.7% during 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 during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 80.9% during 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Corp Comcast sold 3,176,923 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.19, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA traded down $0.36 during trading on Friday, reaching $39.90. 25,951,665 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,184,204. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.56. The firm has a market cap of $154.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $36.43 and a 1-year high of $47.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.09. Comcast had a net margin of 12.46% and a return on equity of 20.17%. The business had revenue of $29.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. Comcast’s quarterly revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup reduced their price target on Comcast from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. BNP Paribas downgraded Comcast from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Comcast from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $47.25 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Monday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.01.

Comcast 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.