Tower Bridge Advisors Reduces Stock Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Tower Bridge Advisors reduced its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 17.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 41,573 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 8,824 shares during the period. Tower Bridge Advisors’ holdings in Comcast were worth $1,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Winch Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Comcast by 269.9% in the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Comcast during the third quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Comcast by 54.8% during the third quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 814 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMCSA has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America lowered Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank cut shares of Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.83.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $35.90 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $135.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.47. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $32.50 and a 12 month high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.81%.

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.