Freestone Capital Holdings LLC Reduces Stock Position in Comcast Corporation $CMCSA

Key Points

• Freestone Capital cut its stake in Comcast by 86.8% in Q4, selling 190,255 shares and leaving 29,048 shares valued at about $868,000.
• CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares for roughly $1.89 million, reducing his ownership by 8.52%; company insiders now hold about 1.26% of shares.
• Comcast beat Q4 EPS estimates ($0.84 vs. $0.75) while revenue missed slightly at $32.31 billion, and the firm declared a $0.33 quarterly dividend (annualized $1.32, ~4.7% yield) with an ex-dividend date of April 1.

Freestone Capital Holdings LLC lessened its holdings in Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 86.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 29,048 shares of the cable giant's stock after selling 190,255 shares during the quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC's holdings in Comcast were worth $868,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Imprint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the third quarter worth about $26,000. United Financial Planning Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Comcast by 212.6% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,016 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Comcast during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company's stock.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of CMCSA opened at $28.14 on Wednesday. Comcast Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $25.75 and a fifty-two week high of $36.66. The company has a market capitalization of $101.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.09. Comcast had a net margin of 16.17% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The business had revenue of $32.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $32.35 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Comcast Corporation will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 1st. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Comcast's dividend payout ratio is 24.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CMCSA shares. Arete Research set a $23.00 price objective on Comcast in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Benchmark dropped their price objective on Comcast from $46.00 to $44.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Comcast from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price objective on Comcast from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $34.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at Comcast

In other news, CEO Michael J. Cavanagh sold 57,947 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.66, for a total transaction of $1,892,549.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 622,336 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,325,493.76. This represents a 8.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.26% of the company's stock.

Comcast Profile

Comcast Corporation NASDAQ: CMCSA is a diversified global media and technology company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its principal operations are organized around Comcast Cable, which provides broadband internet, video, voice and wireless services to residential and business customers in the United States under the Xfinity and Comcast Business brands, and NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment group that develops, produces and distributes content across broadcast and cable networks, film, and streaming platforms.

NBCUniversal's assets include the NBC broadcast network, a portfolio of cable channels, Universal Pictures and other film and television production businesses, and the Peacock streaming service.

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