Captrust Financial Advisors Sells 4,342 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Captrust Financial Advisors reduced its position in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 777,242 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 4,342 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Comcast were worth $32,465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMCSA. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Comcast by 5.4% during the 3rd 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. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Comcast by 92.1% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 8,722,620 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $339,223,000 after purchasing an additional 4,182,525 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 530.5% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,429,298 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $143,242,000 after purchasing an additional 2,885,370 shares during the last quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP increased its holdings in shares of Comcast by 26.7% in the second quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP now owns 9,500,000 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $372,020,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Comcast by 211.7% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,890,571 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $120,739,000 after purchasing an additional 1,963,246 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Comcast Stock Performance

Shares of Comcast stock opened at $43.19 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $165.27 billion, a PE ratio of 11.61, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The company had revenue of $32.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $31.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Comcast’s revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.26 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on CMCSA. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Comcast from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.