Welch & Forbes LLC Has $43.13 Million Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Welch & Forbes LLC cut its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,149,128 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 29,227 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $43,127,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CMCSA. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Comcast by 269.9% during the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Comcast during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CMCSA. Scotiabank cut Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $48.00 to $44.50 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price objective on Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI raised Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Benchmark dropped their price objective on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Comcast has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.83.

Comcast Trading Up 2.0 %

Comcast stock opened at $36.27 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $32.50 and a 52 week high of $45.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.74, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.37.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. Analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 31.81%.

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.