Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 200,177 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,614,818 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 200,177 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.07% of Comcast worth $98,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in 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 during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Comcast during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Comcast during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Comcast during the third quarter valued at $30,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Comcast Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of CMCSA stock opened at $36.01 on Wednesday. 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 52-week low of $32.50 and a 52-week high of $45.31. The company has a market capitalization of $136.15 billion, a PE ratio of 8.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $35.86 and its 200 day moving average is $39.14.

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

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on CMCSA. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank lowered Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $44.50 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI raised Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Macquarie reduced their price objective on Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.83.

Comcast 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.