Phillips Wealth Planners LLC Lowers Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Phillips Wealth Planners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 14.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,775 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 2,849 shares during the period. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Finley Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Comcast during the fourth quarter worth $150,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 42.1% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,417,814 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $90,741,000 after purchasing an additional 716,770 shares during the last quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. Red Spruce Capital LLC now owns 50,550 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,897,000 after purchasing an additional 4,561 shares during the last quarter. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 21.5% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 27,375 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,027,000 after purchasing an additional 4,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 3,952,198 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $148,326,000 after purchasing an additional 188,948 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $37.11 on Thursday. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $36.15 and a 52 week high of $47.11. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $142.00 billion, a PE ratio of 9.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $39.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.18.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.78 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Comcast

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMCSA has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered Comcast from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $45.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays increased their price objective on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Scotiabank raised Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.33.

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.