Community Trust & Investment Co. Decreases Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Community Trust & Investment Co. reduced its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 70,185 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 7,597 shares during the period. Community Trust & Investment Co.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $2,916,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quilter Plc bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 1st quarter worth approximately $695,100,000. Kalos Management Inc. bought a new stake in Comcast in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its position in Comcast by 134.3% in the 1st quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 752 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Comcast in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Fortis Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. 82.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMCSA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Comcast from $48.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Comcast from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Comcast from $50.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Macquarie upgraded shares of Comcast from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $46.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, July 28th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Comcast in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Comcast currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.88.

Comcast Stock Performance

CMCSA stock traded up $0.04 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $45.68. 3,998,151 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,727,820. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $28.39 and a twelve month high of $47.46. The company has a market capitalization of $188.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The cable giant reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.15. Comcast had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 19.79%. The firm had revenue of $30.51 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 3.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 4th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 3rd. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 73.42%.

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, advertising sales, and Sky channels.