Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Sells 653 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. reduced its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 22,841 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 653 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $857,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 311,153 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $12,185,000 after purchasing an additional 13,491 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in Comcast in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,899,000. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Comcast during the second quarter worth $74,000. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 2.7% during the second quarter. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,754 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Perspectives Inc lifted its stake in shares of Comcast by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 14,601 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $572,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Comcast from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their price target on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $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. Corporate insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

CMCSA stock opened at $36.45 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $40.57 and its 200-day moving average is $40.25. Comcast Co. has a 1 year low of $36.24 and a 1 year high of $47.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.48 billion, a PE ratio of 9.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.01.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The business’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.33%.

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.