Wellington Shields & Co. LLC Sells 582 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC reduced its position in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,377 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 582 shares during the period. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in Comcast in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Comcast by 269.9% in the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 502 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Comcast in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Comcast in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Comcast in the third quarter worth about $30,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Macquarie reduced their target price on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.83.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of Comcast stock opened at $35.43 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a 52-week low of $32.50 and a 52-week high of $45.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.92 and a 200-day moving average of $39.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Equities research analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.33 dividend. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is 31.81%.

Comcast Company 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.