Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Sells 5,530 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. lowered its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 16.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,756 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 5,530 shares during the quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,077,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 502 shares in the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the third quarter worth $30,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Comcast by 220.3% during the third 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. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC increased its stake in Comcast by 54.8% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 814 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CMCSA shares. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Comcast from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Comcast from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Ten 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Comcast news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $284,539,128.48. This trade represents a 3.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Comcast Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of CMCSA opened at $33.94 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.68. Comcast Co. has a 52-week low of $32.50 and a 52-week high of $45.31. The firm has a market cap of $129.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.18, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $38.22 and its 200-day moving average is $39.97.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.08. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.98% and a net margin of 13.09%. Equities analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. This is a positive change from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.