Handelsbanken Fonder AB Sells 27,279 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB cut its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,824,178 shares of the cable giant's stock after selling 27,279 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB's holdings in Comcast were worth $68,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Comcast by 269.9% during the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in Comcast in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Comcast in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Comcast in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Comcast by 220.3% in the 3rd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 759 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 522 shares during the period. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction dated 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 $22,779,218.91. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company's stock, valued at $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America lowered shares of Comcast from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Comcast from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of Comcast from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.13.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ CMCSA traded down $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $36.26. The company had a trading volume of 21,402,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,761,117. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $137.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.60. Comcast Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.50 and a fifty-two week high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. Equities analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is a positive change from Comcast's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast's payout ratio is 29.88%.

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.