Garland Capital Management Inc. Sells 740 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Garland Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 82,040 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 740 shares during the quarter. Comcast makes up about 2.5% of Garland Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Garland Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $3,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CMCSA. FMR LLC boosted its position 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 worth $4,904,647,000 after purchasing an additional 6,062,658 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 34,101,077 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,279,813,000 after purchasing an additional 2,270,186 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 32,709,601 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,227,591,000 after purchasing an additional 838,366 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 6.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,717,762 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in shares of Comcast by 147.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 24,086,671 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $895,499,000 after purchasing an additional 14,369,056 shares during the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Comcast Price Performance

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $36.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.08. The company has a market cap of $138.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.00. Comcast Co. has a 52-week low of $32.50 and a 52-week high of $45.31.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The cable giant reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.33 dividend. This is a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is 31.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on Comcast from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 target price on Comcast in a report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank lowered Comcast from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $44.50 in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays reduced their target price on Comcast from $42.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Comcast currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.83.

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.