River Road Asset Management LLC Sells 165,918 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

River Road Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 16.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 847,994 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 165,918 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $31,825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Comcast by 1.7% in the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 63,936 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $2,671,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Comcast by 8.8% in the third quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC now owns 13,792 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $576,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117 shares during the last quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management boosted its stake in Comcast by 114.4% in the third quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 5,222 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 2,786 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Comcast by 10.0% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 102,681 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,289,000 after acquiring an additional 9,318 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in Comcast in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Macquarie reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.83.

Comcast Stock Down 3.9 %

Shares of CMCSA stock opened at $36.11 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.70, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $36.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.32. Comcast Co. has a 1 year low of $32.50 and a 1 year high of $45.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.66%. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 31.81%.

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.