Tower Bridge Advisors Trims Stock Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Tower Bridge Advisors lowered its stake in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 17.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 41,573 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 8,824 shares during the quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors’ holdings in Comcast were worth $1,560,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in Comcast by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 832,594 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $34,810,000 after acquiring an additional 132,442 shares during the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Comcast by 14.1% in the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 19,321 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $807,000 after purchasing an additional 2,395 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management lifted its position in Comcast by 16.8% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 12,013 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $502,000 after buying an additional 1,731 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co. boosted its stake in Comcast by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 48,401 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $2,022,000 after buying an additional 704 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Comcast in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CMCSA shares. Bank of America cut shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank lowered Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 price target on Comcast in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.83.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $35.90 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $36.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $135.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.65, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a 1-year low of $32.50 and a 1-year high of $45.31.

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

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s payout ratio is 31.81%.

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.