Tufton Capital Management Reduces Stock Holdings in The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS)

Tufton Capital Management trimmed its position in shares of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 70,351 shares of the entertainment giant’s stock after selling 4,322 shares during the quarter. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in Walt Disney were worth $6,352,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of DIS. Compton Capital Management Inc. RI lifted its stake in shares of Walt Disney by 0.5% in the first quarter. Compton Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 20,689 shares of the entertainment giant’s stock worth $2,838,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC raised its holdings in Walt Disney by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 3,575 shares of the entertainment giant’s stock valued at $490,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Linscomb & Williams Inc. lifted its stake in Walt Disney by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Linscomb & Williams Inc. now owns 5,582 shares of the entertainment giant’s stock worth $766,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walt Disney by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. now owns 16,514 shares of the entertainment giant’s stock worth $1,338,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Walt Disney by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 24,096 shares of the entertainment giant’s stock valued at $2,176,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. 65.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $136.00 price objective on shares of Walt Disney in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Walt Disney from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Barclays raised shares of Walt Disney from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $135.00 in a report on Monday, March 25th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Walt Disney from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Walt Disney from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twenty-two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $124.54.

Walt Disney Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:DIS traded up $0.66 during trading on Thursday, hitting $113.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,798,125 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,057,273. The Walt Disney Company has a fifty-two week low of $78.73 and a fifty-two week high of $123.74. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $113.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $98.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $208.38 billion, a PE ratio of 70.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.42.

Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The entertainment giant reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $23.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.71 billion. Walt Disney had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 3.36%. Walt Disney’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that The Walt Disney Company will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walt Disney Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Monday, July 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 8th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.5%. Walt Disney’s payout ratio is 18.52%.

Insider Activity at Walt Disney

In other Walt Disney news, EVP Sonia L. Coleman sold 1,857 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $121.92, for a total value of $226,405.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $536,448. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Walt Disney

The Walt Disney Company operates as an entertainment company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Entertainment, Sports, and Experiences. The company produces and distributes film and television video streaming content under the ABC Television Network, Disney, Freeform, FX, Fox, National Geographic, and Star brand television channels, as well as ABC television stations and A+E television networks; and produces original content under the ABC Signature, Disney Branded Television, FX Productions, Lucasfilm, Marvel, National Geographic Studios, Pixar, Searchlight Pictures, Twentieth Century Studios, 20th Television, and Walt Disney Pictures banners.