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

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC decreased its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. 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 SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Comcast by 4.5% during the second quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,027 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,411,000 after purchasing an additional 1,550 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its position in Comcast by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 191,846 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $7,513,000 after buying an additional 15,664 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its holdings in Comcast by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 1,920,800 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $80,232,000 after acquiring an additional 68,139 shares during the last quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Comcast by 0.7% in the third quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC now owns 2,210,469 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $92,331,000 after acquiring an additional 15,807 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 3,816.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 558,382 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $21,866,000 after acquiring an additional 544,123 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Comcast

In other Comcast 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 transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at approximately $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on CMCSA shares. Barclays raised their target price on Comcast from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com raised Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.19.

Comcast Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $43.19 on Friday. Comcast Co. has a 12-month low of $36.43 and a 12-month high of $47.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.61, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $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.

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

Comcast Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. Comcast’s payout ratio is currently 33.33%.

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.