Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Acquires 28,483 Shares of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH boosted its stake in The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 629,211 shares of the entertainment giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,483 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Walt Disney were worth $70,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walt Disney by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 66,744 shares of the entertainment giant’s stock valued at $6,420,000 after purchasing an additional 5,184 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Walt Disney by 1.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,411,205 shares of the entertainment giant’s stock worth $1,001,454,000 after buying an additional 114,701 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in Walt Disney by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 140,883 shares of the entertainment giant’s stock valued at $15,687,000 after acquiring an additional 13,339 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments boosted its position in Walt Disney by 476.0% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 12,379 shares of the entertainment giant’s stock valued at $1,191,000 after acquiring an additional 10,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new position in shares of Walt Disney during the 4th quarter worth approximately $15,125,000. 65.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Brent Woodford sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.62, for a total value of $568,100.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,055 shares in the company, valued at $5,005,529.10. This represents a 10.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Robert A. Iger sold 372,412 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.57, for a total transaction of $42,667,242.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 226,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,980,695.19. This trade represents a 62.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 385,412 shares of company stock valued at $44,153,263. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Walt Disney Stock Performance

Shares of DIS stock opened at $108.72 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $196.89 billion, a PE ratio of 40.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $112.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $99.76. The Walt Disney Company has a 52 week low of $83.91 and a 52 week high of $123.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

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

Walt Disney Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on DIS. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Walt Disney in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Walt Disney from $128.00 to $134.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Walt Disney from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Walt Disney from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Walt Disney from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Walt Disney presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $125.54.

Walt Disney Profile

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.