Argyle Capital Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA)

Argyle Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in Comcast Co. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) by 26.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,856 shares of the cable giant’s stock after selling 14,100 shares during the quarter. Argyle Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Comcast were worth $1,704,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Comcast by 0.3% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 46,019,891 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $2,040,522,000 after acquiring an additional 141,874 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Comcast by 3.5% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 36,170,191 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $1,603,786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,374 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in Comcast by 4.7% during the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 15,118,600 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $670,359,000 after purchasing an additional 685,400 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Comcast by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 14,692,327 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $644,258,000 after purchasing an additional 329,278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in Comcast by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 11,432,426 shares of the cable giant’s stock worth $501,312,000 after purchasing an additional 581,163 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.32% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Michael J. Cavanagh sold 114,749 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total value of $5,289,928.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.18% of the company’s stock.

Comcast Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CMCSA traded up $0.70 during trading on Friday, hitting $38.57. 29,783,241 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,514,964. The company has a market cap of $153.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.20, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.98. Comcast Co. has a 1 year low of $36.43 and a 1 year high of $47.46. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $41.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The cable giant reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $30.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.83 billion. Comcast had a net margin of 12.64% and a return on equity of 20.10%. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Comcast Co. will post 4.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMCSA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Comcast from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Comcast from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $44.00 in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Comcast in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Comcast from $50.00 to $47.25 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, BNP Paribas reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Comcast in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.45.

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.