Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Reduces Position in The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS)

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC reduced its stake in The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) by 24.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,804 shares of the entertainment giant’s stock after selling 16,064 shares during the quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings in Walt Disney were worth $5,657,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Walt Disney by 38.1% in the fourth quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 399 shares of the entertainment giant’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Walt Disney during the 4th quarter worth $49,000. First PREMIER Bank increased its stake in Walt Disney by 98.1% in the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 517 shares of the entertainment giant’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Walt Disney in the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walt Disney during the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. 65.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Walt Disney from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Walt Disney from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Walt Disney from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Walt Disney in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Walt Disney from $115.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walt Disney presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $125.52.

Walt Disney Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:DIS opened at $114.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $206.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The Walt Disney Company has a twelve month low of $83.91 and a twelve month high of $123.74. The company has a 50 day moving average of $112.34 and a 200-day moving average of $100.66.

Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 14th. The entertainment giant reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.05. Walt Disney had a return on equity of 9.21% and a net margin of 5.44%. The business had revenue of $22.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.82 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Walt Disney Company will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walt Disney Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 16th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.6%. This is a boost from Walt Disney’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.45. Walt Disney’s payout ratio is currently 36.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Brent Woodford sold 8,000 shares of Walt Disney stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.74, for a total value of $917,920.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,055 shares in the company, valued at $5,054,870.70. The trade was a 15.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Robert A. Iger sold 372,412 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.57, for a total value of $42,667,242.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 226,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,980,695.19. This represents a 62.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 385,412 shares of company stock worth $44,153,263 in the last ninety days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Walt Disney

The Walt Disney Company operates as an entertainment company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Entertainment, Sports, and Experiences. The company produces and distributes film and television video streaming content under the ABC Television Network, Disney, Freeform, FX, Fox, National Geographic, and Star brand television channels, as well as ABC television stations and A+E television networks; and produces original content under the ABC Signature, Disney Branded Television, FX Productions, Lucasfilm, Marvel, National Geographic Studios, Pixar, Searchlight Pictures, Twentieth Century Studios, 20th Television, and Walt Disney Pictures banners.