CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Sells 16,854 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co reduced its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,306,416 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 16,854 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned 0.11% of Comcast worth $161,528,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Comcast by 269.9% during the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 688 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Comcast in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Comcast during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 84.32% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CMCSA shares. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Comcast from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Comcast from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Loop Capital dropped their target price on Comcast from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Comcast from $47.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Comcast presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.50.

Comcast Trading Down 2.5 %

NASDAQ:CMCSA opened at $33.55 on Thursday. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.43. Comcast Co. has a one year low of $32.20 and a one year high of $45.31. The firm has a market cap of $126.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last announced its 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Comcast Co. will post 4.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 a boost from Comcast’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 2nd. Comcast’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.81%.

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.