New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 299,721 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,905,021 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 299,721 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.15% of Comcast worth $221,615,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 502 shares during the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Comcast in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Comcast during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CMCSA has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America cut Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BNP Paribas upgraded Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Loop Capital decreased their target price on Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Comcast has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.13.

Comcast Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $36.35 on Wednesday. Comcast Co. has a 12-month low of $32.50 and a 12-month high of $45.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.76, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 13.09% and a return on equity of 19.98%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.63%. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 6,669,928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $284,539,128.48. The trade was a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the president now owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at $22,779,218.91. This represents 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.

Comcast Company 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.