Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Position Trimmed by Appleton Partners Inc. MA

Appleton Partners Inc. MA reduced its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 32.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,642 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 3,637 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Comcast were worth $331,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CMCSA. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. grew its position in shares of Comcast by 299.1% during the fourth quarter. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 634,727 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 475,675 shares during the last quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Comcast during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners acquired a new position in shares of Comcast during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Lipe & Dalton bought a new position in Comcast in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Comcast news, major shareholder Corp Comcast sold 3,176,923 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,000,000 shares in the company, valued at $6,380,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Comcast Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA traded down $0.30 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $37.01. The stock had a trading volume of 5,581,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,163,297. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.65. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.46. The company has a market cap of $145.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.80, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The cable giant reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $30.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.83 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 20.10%. Comcast’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 3rd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CMCSA. StockNews.com cut shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $47.25 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Macquarie dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $43.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.83.

Comcast 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.