Hartford Investment Management Co. Cuts Stock Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Hartford Investment Management Co. reduced its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 243,146 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 7,642 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $10,156,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CMCSA. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its holdings in Comcast by 25,881.7% during the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 10,850,995 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $470,391,000 after purchasing an additional 10,809,231 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Comcast by 41.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 28,016,389 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,214,512,000 after acquiring an additional 8,243,302 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Comcast by 7.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 115,703,280 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $5,015,737,000 after acquiring an additional 7,929,963 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Comcast by 80.9% during the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,542,253 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $457,007,000 after acquiring an additional 4,714,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Comcast by 92.1% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,722,620 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $339,223,000 after purchasing an additional 4,182,525 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $44.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.58.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of CMCSA stock traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $41.36. The company had a trading volume of 700,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,477,109. The stock has a market cap of $162.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.99, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.44. Comcast Co. has a 52-week low of $36.43 and a 52-week high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.09. Comcast had a net margin of 12.46% and a return on equity of 20.17%. The company had revenue of $29.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. Comcast’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.