Ledyard National Bank Lowers Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Ledyard National Bank trimmed its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 16.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 124,825 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 24,559 shares during the period. Ledyard National Bank’s holdings in Comcast were worth $4,685,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CMCSA. Winch Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Comcast by 269.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Comcast during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Comcast by 365.4% during the 3rd quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Comcast by 220.3% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 759 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 54.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 814 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

In related news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $284,539,128.48. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the sale, the president now owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Comcast Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of CMCSA opened at $34.47 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $131.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a 12-month low of $32.50 and a 12-month high of $45.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $38.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 3.83%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CMCSA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. BNP Paribas raised shares of Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Benchmark decreased their price objective on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.13.

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.