State of Alaska Department of Revenue Trims Stock Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lessened its holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 628,897 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 40,840 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Comcast were worth $27,576,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Occidental Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Comcast during the 4th quarter worth about $1,463,000. Patron Partners LLC grew its holdings in Comcast by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Patron Partners LLC now owns 9,751 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $428,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the period. Chilton Capital Management LLC raised its position in Comcast by 30.5% during the fourth quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 485,394 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $21,285,000 after acquiring an additional 113,579 shares in the last quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Comcast in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $634,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in Comcast by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 49,672 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $2,140,000 after purchasing an additional 2,434 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of CMCSA stock traded up $0.28 on Friday, hitting $43.35. The stock had a trading volume of 21,157,395 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,456,214. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $43.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.22. Comcast Co. has a 1 year low of $36.38 and a 1 year high of $47.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.98.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $31.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.41 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 19.75%. Analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is 31.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on CMCSA. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Comcast from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $50.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 22nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Comcast currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.68.

Insider Activity at Comcast

In related news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 114,749 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total value of $5,289,928.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Comcast

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.