Ariston Services Group Trims Holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Ariston Services Group cut its position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 16.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,214 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 240 shares during the quarter. Ariston Services Group’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $281,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,584 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in Broadcom by 858.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 18,369,841 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,168,798,000 after purchasing an additional 16,453,718 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC raised its stake in Broadcom by 2,219.8% during the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 3,039 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 2,908 shares during the period. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Broadcom by 896.9% during the third quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,911 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $502,000 after purchasing an additional 2,619 shares during the period. Finally, Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 1,989.2% in the 3rd quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 2,716 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $469,000 after purchasing an additional 2,586 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on AVGO shares. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $240.00 target price on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 price objective (up from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday, December 13th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Broadcom from $205.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Broadcom from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Broadcom news, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 30,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,308,000. This represents a 17.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 45,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $239.96, for a total transaction of $10,798,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 842,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,246,926.56. This trade represents a 5.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,278 shares of company stock valued at $44,964,800 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Stock Up 0.1 %

AVGO stock opened at $187.48 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $225.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $192.65. The company has a market capitalization of $878.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 152.92, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.02. Broadcom Inc. has a twelve month low of $119.76 and a twelve month high of $251.88.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.07 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 28.00%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. This is a boost from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is presently 191.87%.

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.