Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC reduced its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 126,823 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 1,775 shares during the period. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $5,297,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Advisors LLC raised its stake in Comcast by 71.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 198,430 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $8,602,000 after purchasing an additional 82,357 shares during the period. Davis Capital Management raised its position in shares of Comcast by 1.5% during the second quarter. Davis Capital Management now owns 37,862 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,445,000 after buying an additional 566 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 38.8% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 39,405 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,543,000 after buying an additional 11,016 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 8.9% during the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 191,846 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $7,513,000 after acquiring an additional 15,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its stake in Comcast by 4.9% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 334,534 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $13,100,000 after acquiring an additional 15,756 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Comcast Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $43.19 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $165.27 billion, a PE ratio of 11.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $36.43 and a twelve month high of $47.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.17.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a net margin of 11.92% and a return on equity of 19.81%. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $31.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. Comcast’s payout ratio is 33.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank upgraded Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $47.75 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI upgraded Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Barclays increased their target price on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.19.

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.