Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Shares Sold by Ritholtz Wealth Management

Ritholtz Wealth Management trimmed its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 9.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 86,351 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 8,510 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Comcast were worth $3,186,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Comcast during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,835,226,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter worth approximately $743,681,000. Amundi increased its position in shares of Comcast by 147.9% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 24,086,671 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $895,499,000 after purchasing an additional 14,369,056 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Comcast by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 141,680,277 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $5,317,167,000 after purchasing an additional 11,255,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Comcast by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 50,320,446 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,890,027,000 after purchasing an additional 5,402,377 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Comcast from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $37.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group set a $44.50 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Comcast from $55.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Argus lowered Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Comcast from $37.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.10.

Comcast Price Performance

Comcast stock opened at $35.01 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.06. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $31.44 and a 1 year high of $45.31. The company has a market capitalization of $130.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.95.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The cable giant reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. The company had revenue of $29.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.04 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is 32.43%.

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.