Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Sells 57,260 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI decreased its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 13.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 370,624 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 57,260 shares during the quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI’s holdings in Comcast were worth $13,676,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at $743,681,000. Bfsg LLC grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 752.8% in the 4th quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 83,366 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $3,129,000 after buying an additional 73,590 shares in the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 43,509 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,633,000 after buying an additional 3,344 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC raised its position in shares of Comcast by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 2,327,702 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $87,359,000 after buying an additional 156,986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Comcast by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 34,101,077 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,279,813,000 after buying an additional 2,270,186 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Comcast Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $35.11 on Tuesday. Comcast Co. has a one year low of $31.44 and a one year high of $45.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $131.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The cable giant reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $29.89 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.82 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Comcast’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.04 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 32.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CMCSA. UBS Group set a $44.50 price objective on Comcast in a research report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $44.50 target price (down previously from $45.00) on shares of Comcast in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $55.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.10.

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.