Venturi Wealth Management LLC Sells 4,522 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC cut its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 12.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,708 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 4,522 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,228,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Citizens & Northern Corp grew its position in Comcast by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Citizens & Northern Corp now owns 44,927 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,686,000 after acquiring an additional 3,065 shares during the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Comcast by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,947,986 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $73,108,000 after buying an additional 41,471 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Comcast by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,322,639 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $49,639,000 after buying an additional 18,251 shares during the period. KLCM Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Comcast by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 8,593 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 2,096 shares during the period. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Comcast by 96.1% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,923 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,902 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America lowered Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie dropped their price objective on Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

In other news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, 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. Company insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $36.35 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $137.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $32.50 and a 12 month high of $45.31. The business’s 50-day moving average is $36.79 and its 200 day moving average is $39.64.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. 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 3.63%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is 29.88%.

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.