HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Sells 8,830 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC cut its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 128,424 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 8,830 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $4,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CMCSA. McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its holdings in Comcast by 14.8% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 2,183 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the period. Dunhill Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 54.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 814 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC increased its position in Comcast by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 16,581 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 291 shares in the last quarter. Five Oceans Advisors raised its stake in Comcast by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Five Oceans Advisors now owns 12,336 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $463,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the period. Finally, Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Comcast by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 26,470 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $993,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on CMCSA. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie decreased their target price on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price objective on Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.64.

Comcast Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of CMCSA opened at $36.62 on Monday. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.50 and a fifty-two week high of $45.31. The business has a 50-day moving average of $35.89 and a 200 day moving average of $38.99. The firm has a market cap of $138.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.60%. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.81%.

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.