Vest Financial LLC Acquires 13,996 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 38.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 50,059 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,996 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $11,606,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AVGO. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 856.9% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,014,616 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $175,101,000 after acquiring an additional 908,585 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Broadcom during the 3rd quarter valued at about $404,000. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its stake in Broadcom by 900.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,760 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 1,584 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC raised its holdings in Broadcom by 797.5% in the third quarter. Retirement Planning Group LLC now owns 2,136 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 1,898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 1,316.0% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 30,444 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,252,000 after buying an additional 28,294 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Broadcom from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Broadcom from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Hsbc Global Res raised Broadcom to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Broadcom from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Broadcom currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.04.

Broadcom Trading Up 4.5 %

Broadcom stock opened at $235.04 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. Broadcom Inc. has a 12-month low of $119.76 and a 12-month high of $251.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 191.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $219.76 and a 200 day moving average of $184.56.

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

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. This is an increase from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. Broadcom’s payout ratio is presently 192.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Broadcom news, Director Eddy W. Hartenstein sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.64, for a total value of $918,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 46,400 shares in the company, valued at $10,655,296. This represents a 7.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 40,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.98, for a total transaction of $9,279,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 696,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $161,627,425.40. The trade was a 5.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 191,278 shares of company stock worth $44,964,800. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.