Perpetual Ltd Sells 12,554 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Perpetual Ltd trimmed its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,373,062 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 12,554 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in Comcast were worth $51,531,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ARS Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 41.0% in the 4th quarter. ARS Investment Partners LLC now owns 191,691 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $7,194,000 after purchasing an additional 55,770 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in Comcast by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 535,622 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $20,102,000 after buying an additional 14,230 shares during the period. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Comcast by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 85,443 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,207,000 after buying an additional 2,912 shares during the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Comcast by 38.2% during the 4th quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 42,277 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,587,000 after buying an additional 11,693 shares during the period. Finally, Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. raised its position in shares of Comcast by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Leonard Rickey Investment Advisors P.L.L.C. now owns 8,761 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 983 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $36.58 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $139.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $36.15 and a 52 week high of $47.11. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.19.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Macquarie reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.33.

Insider Transactions at Comcast

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $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 owned by insiders.

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.