ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 15.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 383,125 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 68,417 shares during the period. Broadcom accounts for 2.6% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Broadcom were worth $64,147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Broadcom by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 29,683 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $6,882,000 after buying an additional 5,322 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Broadcom by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,997 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $1,854,000 after acquiring an additional 756 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. raised its position in shares of Broadcom by 50.6% during the fourth quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 1,056 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 221,199 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $51,283,000 after acquiring an additional 31,225 shares during the period. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 25,522 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $5,917,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on AVGO shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Broadcom from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $223.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $310.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $295.00 price target on shares of Broadcom and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $281.46.

Broadcom Stock Up 1.8%

NASDAQ:AVGO traded up $4.97 on Friday, hitting $274.87. The stock had a trading volume of 10,592,655 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,575,138. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Broadcom Inc. has a 52 week low of $128.50 and a 52 week high of $277.71. The business's fifty day moving average is $238.77 and its 200 day moving average is $217.17. The company has a market cap of $1.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 102.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.12.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.01. Broadcom had a return on equity of 35.49% and a net margin of 22.64%. The company had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $10.96 earnings per share. Broadcom's revenue for the quarter was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 20th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 20th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Broadcom's payout ratio is 88.39%.

Broadcom declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, April 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor manufacturer to reacquire up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In related news, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.88, for a total value of $2,528,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 789,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $199,720,577.92. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Henry Samueli sold 473,898 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.33, for a total value of $125,739,356.34. Following the transaction, the director owned 38,188,575 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,132,574,604.75. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 854,716 shares of company stock valued at $221,433,761. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

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.