Olstein Capital Management L.P. Lowers Stake in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Olstein Capital Management L.P. cut its holdings in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Free Report) by 28.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 107,000 shares of the cable giant's stock after selling 43,000 shares during the period. Olstein Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in Comcast were worth $4,692,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CMCSA. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Comcast in the 4th quarter worth about $1,798,173,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Comcast by 121,265.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 25,530,426 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $892,799,000 after purchasing an additional 25,509,390 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Comcast by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 53,653,778 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $1,876,273,000 after purchasing an additional 7,084,451 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Comcast by 62.6% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 15,271,853 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $715,028,000 after purchasing an additional 5,880,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Comcast by 535.8% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,754,976 shares of the cable giant's stock worth $222,628,000 after purchasing an additional 4,007,100 shares in the last quarter. 84.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMCSA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Comcast from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on shares of Comcast from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 13th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Comcast from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Comcast currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $49.45.

Comcast Price Performance

CMCSA traded down $0.19 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $40.71. The company had a trading volume of 28,115,482 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,400,752. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.60. The company has a market capitalization of $161.69 billion, a PE ratio of 10.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.98. Comcast Co. has a twelve month low of $36.38 and a twelve month high of $47.46. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $42.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.00.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The cable giant reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $31.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.41 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 19.75%. Equities research analysts predict that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Comcast Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Comcast's previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Comcast's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 114,749 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total transaction of $5,289,928.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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, sky-branded entertainment television networks, and advertising.