Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. Trims Stock Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. lessened its position in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 18.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,480 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $229,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,027 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,550 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank raised its holdings in shares of Comcast by 8.9% in the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 191,846 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $7,513,000 after buying an additional 15,664 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Comcast by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $92,331,000 after acquiring an additional 15,807 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in Comcast by 3,816.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 558,382 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $21,866,000 after acquiring an additional 544,123 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Comcast in the 1st quarter valued at about $773,000. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CMCSA. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Comcast from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.75.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $42.88 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a one year low of $36.43 and a one year high of $47.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $164.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.53, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.72.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The firm had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.25 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be given a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.33%.

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.