American Trust Reduces Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

American Trust reduced its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 15.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 79,929 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 14,507 shares during the period. American Trust’s holdings in Comcast were worth $3,339,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Comcast during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 365.4% in the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 220.3% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 759 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Archer Investment Corp raised its position in shares of Comcast by 177.1% during the 2nd quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 812 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 519 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CMCSA shares. Scotiabank upgraded Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays upped their price target on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.19.

Insider Activity at Comcast

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the transaction, the president now owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Comcast Trading Up 1.3 %

CMCSA stock opened at $40.24 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $36.43 and a twelve month high of $47.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. Comcast’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.33%.

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.