Comcast Corporation $CMCSA Shares Sold by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC cut its stake in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 38.0% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 157,713 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 96,767 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $4,528,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Imprint Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Comcast in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new position in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 75.5% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 932 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 212.6% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,016 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 691 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Seaport Research Partners raised Comcast from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. BNP Paribas Exane cut their price target on shares of Comcast from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Comcast from $35.50 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Evercore increased their target price on shares of Comcast from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Comcast has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.04.

Comcast Price Performance

CMCSA stock opened at $23.57 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. Comcast Corporation has a one year low of $22.13 and a one year high of $36.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.20 billion, a PE ratio of 4.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $24.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.69.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The cable giant reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 15.00% and a return on equity of 15.47%. The business had revenue of $31.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.09 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Comcast Corporation will post 3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 1st will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 1st. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 25.98%.

About Comcast

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is a diversified global media and technology company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its principal operations are organized around Comcast Cable, which provides broadband internet, video, voice and wireless services to residential and business customers in the United States under the Xfinity and Comcast Business brands, and NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment group that develops, produces and distributes content across broadcast and cable networks, film, and streaming platforms.

NBCUniversal’s assets include the NBC broadcast network, a portfolio of cable channels, Universal Pictures and other film and television production businesses, and the Peacock streaming service.