Trust Co. of Vermont Sells 6,740 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Trust Co. of Vermont decreased its holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 29.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,040 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 6,740 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $3,719,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the 2nd quarter worth $228,000. Security National Bank of Sioux City Iowa IA bought a new position in Broadcom in the second quarter worth about $234,000. Castleview Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Broadcom by 1,030.8% during the third quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 147 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 900.0% in the 3rd quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 150 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total value of $1,569,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 30,450 shares in the company, valued at $7,308,000. This represents a 17.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Check Kian Low sold 48,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $235.35, for a total value of $11,296,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 113,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,606,317.50. This represents a 29.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 191,278 shares of company stock worth $44,964,800. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AVGO shares. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Broadcom from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Broadcom from $201.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Broadcom from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 price target (up previously from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $205.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.83.

Broadcom Price Performance

Shares of Broadcom stock opened at $237.44 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 193.67, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $202.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.14. Broadcom Inc. has a 12 month low of $112.19 and a 12 month high of $251.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.03. Broadcom had a return on equity of 28.00% and a net margin of 11.43%. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This is a boost from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is currently 192.50%.

Broadcom Profile

Broadcom Inc designs, develops, and supplies various semiconductor devices with a focus on complex digital and mixed signal complementary metal oxide semiconductor based devices and analog III-V based products worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Semiconductor Solutions and Infrastructure Software.