Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) Shares Purchased by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC increased its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 24.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 141,473 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,933 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $32,799,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in 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. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new position in Broadcom in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Broadcom by 1,323.1% in the 3rd quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 185 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Bellevue Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Broadcom in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Broadcom in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Eddy W. Hartenstein sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.64, for a total value of $918,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 46,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,655,296. This represents a 7.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total transaction of $1,569,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 30,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,308,000. The trade was a 17.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 191,278 shares of company stock worth $44,964,800 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Stock Down 6.3 %

Broadcom stock opened at $179.45 on Friday. Broadcom Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.76 and a fifty-two week high of $251.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.17. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $223.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $192.55. The company has a market capitalization of $841.15 billion, a PE ratio of 146.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 191.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AVGO. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 price target on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Broadcom from $205.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Broadcom from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 target price (up from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Broadcom from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $225.04.

About Broadcom

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.