Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc Cuts Stock Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc cut its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 16.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,855 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 2,298 shares during the period. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in Comcast were worth $445,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 6,062,658 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Comcast by 2.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 38,329,384 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,500,722,000 after buying an additional 1,000,626 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Comcast by 1.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,871,235 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $1,331,192,000 after buying an additional 416,759 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Comcast by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 30,364,136 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,268,310,000 after buying an additional 1,717,762 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 15,983,230 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $667,620,000 after acquiring an additional 822,936 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Comcast Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Comcast stock opened at $36.45 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market cap of $139.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.01. Comcast Co. has a 52-week low of $36.24 and a 52-week high of $47.11. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.25.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The cable giant reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.06. Comcast had a return on equity of 19.81% and a net margin of 11.92%. The business had revenue of $32.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $31.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Comcast news, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the business’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. Also, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 25,537 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.59, for a total value of $1,087,620.83. Following the completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMCSA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Comcast from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $45.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Comcast from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $47.75 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, November 1st. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.33.

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.