Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 1,683,770 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. reduced its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,713,887 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 1,683,770 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,906,356,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bollard Group LLC raised its position in shares of Comcast by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Bollard Group LLC now owns 36,996 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,622,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Comcast by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 5,801 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Comcast by 2.7% in the second quarter. Greenwich Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,754 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $382,000 after buying an additional 261 shares during the period. Verum Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Comcast by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 5,663 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, Mcdonald Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Comcast by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Mcdonald Partners LLC now owns 19,591 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $849,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Stock Down 1.8 %

Comcast stock opened at $40.59 on Thursday. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.43 and a fifty-two week high of $47.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.61. The stock has a market cap of $157.18 billion, a PE ratio of 10.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.01.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $29.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.02 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 20.17% and a net margin of 12.46%. The company’s revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. Research analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on CMCSA. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com lowered Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Comcast from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Pivotal Research reduced their price target on shares of Comcast from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Comcast from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, June 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.58.

Comcast Company 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.