Howland Capital Management LLC Sells 3,074 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Howland Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 8.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,090 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 3,074 shares during the quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Comcast during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $895,000. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in Comcast by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 16,371 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $726,000 after purchasing an additional 1,395 shares during the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated raised its holdings in Comcast by 19.1% in the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 7,772 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $345,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246 shares in the last quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Comcast in the 3rd quarter valued at $6,309,000. Finally, Comerica Bank raised its holdings in Comcast by 70.9% in the 3rd quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,352,312 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $59,962,000 after acquiring an additional 560,910 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Monday, May 13th. BNP Paribas cut Comcast from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Comcast in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $44.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Comcast from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.53.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $3.19, for a total transaction of $10,134,384.37. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,000,000 shares in the company, valued at $6,380,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Comcast Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of CMCSA stock traded up $0.32 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $37.75. The company had a trading volume of 18,599,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,397,145. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.02. The company has a market cap of $148.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The cable giant reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.10% and a net margin of 12.64%. The company had revenue of $30.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.92 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.80%.

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.