Spire Wealth Management Cuts Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Spire Wealth Management lowered its stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,451 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 329 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,143,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in shares of Comcast by 55,334.5% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,273,052 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $345,565,000 after purchasing an additional 8,258,128 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 5.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,420,328 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $4,904,647,000 after buying an additional 6,062,658 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 530.5% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,429,298 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $143,242,000 after buying an additional 2,885,370 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in Comcast by 31.7% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 7,613,977 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $318,036,000 after purchasing an additional 1,833,453 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Comcast by 6.0% in the third 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 valued at $1,268,310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,717,762 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Comcast to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $45.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.13.

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $1,087,620.83. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 534,849 shares in the company, valued at $22,779,218.91. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian L. Roberts sold 234,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.66, for a total transaction of $10,002,234.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,669,928 shares in the company, valued at $284,539,128.48. This represents a 3.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.26% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $33.19 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $38.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.07. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $32.50 and a 12 month high of $45.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $127.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This is an increase from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%. Comcast’s payout ratio is presently 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.