Washington Trust Bank Has $9.90 Million Stock Position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Washington Trust Bank lessened its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 263,780 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 5,928 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Bank’s holdings in Comcast were worth $9,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at $743,681,000. Amundi raised its stake in Comcast by 147.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 24,086,671 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $895,499,000 after acquiring an additional 14,369,056 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in Comcast by 55,334.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $345,565,000 after acquiring an additional 8,258,128 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in Comcast by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,904,647,000 after acquiring an additional 6,062,658 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in Comcast by 530.5% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,429,298 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $143,242,000 after buying an additional 2,885,370 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on CMCSA. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 price objective on Comcast in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America cut Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $38.00 in a research report 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 lowered their price objective on Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.83.

Comcast Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $36.75 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $138.95 billion, a PE ratio of 8.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $32.50 and a twelve month high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. This is a positive change 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 (DPR) is presently 31.81%.

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.