Hancock Whitney Corp Sells 25,090 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Hancock Whitney Corp reduced its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 32.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,440 shares of the cable giant's stock after selling 25,090 shares during the quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp's holdings in Comcast were worth $1,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Comcast by 904.0% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 254,545 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $10,632,000 after purchasing an additional 229,192 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Comcast during the fourth quarter worth about $743,681,000. Bfsg LLC boosted its position in Comcast by 752.8% during the fourth quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 83,366 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $3,129,000 after purchasing an additional 73,590 shares during the last quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP increased its position in shares of Comcast by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 43,509 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 3,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robinson Value Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Comcast by 136.7% during the 4th quarter. Robinson Value Management Ltd. now owns 102,360 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $3,842,000 after purchasing an additional 59,107 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMCSA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Macquarie dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $42.00 to $36.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Comcast from $55.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $44.50 target price (down previously from $45.00) on shares of Comcast in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $41.88.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA traded down $0.13 on Monday, hitting $33.77. The company had a trading volume of 27,894,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,843,929. Comcast Co. has a 52 week low of $31.44 and a 52 week high of $45.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.14, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $35.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.03.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The cable giant reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $29.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $29.82 billion. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. Comcast's revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.04 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is a boost from Comcast's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast's payout ratio is 32.43%.

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.