Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Shares Sold by Washington Trust Advisors Inc.

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,337 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 386 shares during the period. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $278,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Ironwood Wealth Management LLC. now owns 15,458 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $724,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. United Bank boosted its stake in Comcast by 17.4% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 37,271 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,745,000 after buying an additional 5,532 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Comcast by 29.6% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,063,697 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $190,261,000 after purchasing an additional 928,627 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in Comcast by 104.4% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,472 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $163,000 after purchasing an additional 1,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the first quarter worth $482,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on CMCSA. Evercore ISI reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Tuesday. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Comcast from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.68.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of CMCSA traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $43.31. 5,926,034 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,031,412. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $36.38 and a 1-year high of $47.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.02 billion, a PE ratio of 11.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.60. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $43.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.22.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $31.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.41 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 19.75%. Equities research analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 31.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 114,749 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total value of $5,289,928.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

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.