Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 28,200 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lessened its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 484,000 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 28,200 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Comcast were worth $18,165,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Winch Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Comcast by 269.9% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Comcast during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Comcast by 365.4% in the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 726 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Comcast during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Comcast by 220.3% during 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 last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Comcast Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of CMCSA stock opened at $35.23 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $133.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a 12-month low of $32.50 and a 12-month high of $45.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $37.54 and a 200-day moving average of $39.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.33 dividend. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 29.88%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank lowered shares of Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI upgraded Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Comcast news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of Comcast stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total value of $10,002,234.24. Following 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 link. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total transaction of $1,087,620.83. Following the transaction, the president now owns 534,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

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.