Empire Life Investments Inc. Lowers Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Empire Life Investments Inc. lowered its position in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 22.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 478,635 shares of the cable giant's stock after selling 135,207 shares during the period. Empire Life Investments Inc.'s holdings in Comcast were worth $17,963,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its stake in shares of Comcast by 18.9% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 832,594 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $34,810,000 after buying an additional 132,442 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in Comcast by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 7,873 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the period. Creative Planning grew its position in Comcast by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 959,549 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $40,080,000 after acquiring an additional 24,968 shares during the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Comcast by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,166 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the period. Finally, SPC Financial Inc. lifted its position in Comcast by 3.2% in the third quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 12,634 shares of the cable giant's stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

In related news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company's stock, valued at $284,539,128.48. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on CMCSA shares. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their target price on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Bank of America cut shares of Comcast from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup cut their target price on Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, 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. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.13.

Comcast Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA traded up $0.19 on Wednesday, reaching $36.54. 8,547,489 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 26,496,279. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $36.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.64. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $32.50 and a 12 month high of $45.31. The company has a market cap of $138.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

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

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. This is an increase from Comcast's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast's dividend payout ratio is 29.88%.

Comcast Profile

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.