Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Has $20.52 Million Stock Position in The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lowered its stake in The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS - Free Report) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 184,264 shares of the entertainment giant's stock after selling 2,827 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC's holdings in Walt Disney were worth $20,518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Walt Disney by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 77,596,191 shares of the entertainment giant's stock valued at $7,463,978,000 after buying an additional 490,681 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Walt Disney by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 37,672,320 shares of the entertainment giant's stock valued at $3,609,833,000 after purchasing an additional 1,393,082 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Walt Disney by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,416,668 shares of the entertainment giant's stock worth $3,310,539,000 after buying an additional 2,765,389 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Walt Disney by 3.1% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 14,281,047 shares of the entertainment giant's stock worth $1,417,958,000 after buying an additional 425,438 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Walt Disney by 3.4% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 13,850,678 shares of the entertainment giant's stock valued at $1,332,297,000 after buying an additional 454,678 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DIS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Loop Capital raised their price target on Walt Disney from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Walt Disney in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Walt Disney from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $100.00 to $147.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Walt Disney from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on Walt Disney from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Walt Disney presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $125.54.

Walt Disney Stock Performance

Walt Disney stock traded up $1.83 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $108.85. 4,855,505 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,679,855. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $112.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $99.76. The Walt Disney Company has a fifty-two week low of $83.91 and a fifty-two week high of $123.74. The firm has a market cap of $197.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.18, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The entertainment giant reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $22.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.49 billion. Walt Disney had a return on equity of 9.21% and a net margin of 5.44%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Walt Disney Company will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Walt Disney Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 16th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Walt Disney's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.45. This represents a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 16th. Walt Disney's payout ratio is presently 36.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Robert A. Iger sold 372,412 shares of Walt Disney stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.57, for a total value of $42,667,242.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 226,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,980,695.19. This trade represents a 62.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Brent Woodford sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.62, for a total transaction of $568,100.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,055 shares in the company, valued at $5,005,529.10. This represents a 10.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 385,412 shares of company stock worth $44,153,263. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Walt Disney

The Walt Disney Company operates as an entertainment company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Entertainment, Sports, and Experiences. The company produces and distributes film and television video streaming content under the ABC Television Network, Disney, Freeform, FX, Fox, National Geographic, and Star brand television channels, as well as ABC television stations and A+E television networks; and produces original content under the ABC Signature, Disney Branded Television, FX Productions, Lucasfilm, Marvel, National Geographic Studios, Pixar, Searchlight Pictures, Twentieth Century Studios, 20th Television, and Walt Disney Pictures banners.