Abacus Planning Group Inc. Sells 4,476 Shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Abacus Planning Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 30.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 10,403 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 4,476 shares during the quarter. Abacus Planning Group Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $435,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CMCSA. Edge Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Comcast by 20.2% during the 4th quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC now owns 13,028 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $571,000 after buying an additional 2,189 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Comcast by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,383,141 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $148,351,000 after buying an additional 194,513 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in Comcast by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 197,692 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $8,669,000 after purchasing an additional 2,967 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Comcast by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,268,082 shares of the cable giant’s stock valued at $55,605,000 after buying an additional 64,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its holdings in Comcast by 3,318.8% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 603,215 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $26,451,000 after purchasing an additional 585,571 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA opened at $41.30 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.93, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.56. Comcast Co. has a 12 month low of $36.43 and a 12 month high of $47.11.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The cable giant reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $29.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.02 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 12.46% and a return on equity of 20.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. Analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

Comcast Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. Comcast’s payout ratio is 32.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMCSA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Comcast from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Comcast from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Comcast in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $44.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.58.

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.