Vontobel Holding Ltd. Decreases Stock Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. reduced its position in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 29.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,174,526 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 483,312 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $44,080,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC increased its stake in Comcast by 5.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $4,904,647,000 after acquiring an additional 6,062,658 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,871,235 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,331,192,000 after purchasing an additional 416,759 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Comcast by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 30,364,136 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,268,310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,717,762 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its holdings in Comcast by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 15,983,230 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $667,620,000 after buying an additional 822,936 shares during the period. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Comcast by 4.8% in the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 14,918,501 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $623,146,000 after buying an additional 676,920 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CMCSA. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Comcast from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. BNP Paribas raised Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Benchmark decreased their price target on Comcast from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Comcast presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

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

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $35.38 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $133.77 billion, a PE ratio of 8.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $37.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.72 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.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 29.88%.

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.