Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) is Covington Investment Advisors Inc.'s 4th Largest Position

Key Points

• Covington Investment Advisors Inc. sold 1,540 shares of Broadcom, reducing its holding to 145,357 shares, valued at approximately $24.3 million, making it 4th largest in their portfolio.
• Broadcom's stock has received numerous buy ratings from analysts, with a consensus price target of $294.92, reflecting strong market confidence.
• In the latest quarter, Broadcom reported a revenue of $15 billion, exceeding analyst estimates, and marked a significant year-over-year growth of 20.2%.

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 145,357 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 1,540 shares during the period. Broadcom comprises approximately 3.8% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Broadcom were worth $24,337,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AVGO. Athena Investment Management lifted its position in shares of Broadcom by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Athena Investment Management now owns 6,610 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,107,000 after buying an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc lifted its position in shares of Broadcom by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 10,373 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $1,737,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Pandora Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $323,000. Fiduciary Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,464,000. Finally, Johnson Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $271,000. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Broadcom news, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 10,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $252.88, for a total value of $2,528,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 789,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at $199,720,577.92. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 117,758 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.91, for a total value of $29,782,175.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,014,152 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $256,489,182.32. This represents a 10.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 830,516 shares of company stock worth $217,224,641 over the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on AVGO shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Broadcom from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Broadcom to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Broadcom from $250.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Broadcom from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $265.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $294.92.

Broadcom Trading Up 2.9%

AVGO traded up $8.93 on Tuesday, hitting $312.83. The company had a trading volume of 17,557,896 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,383,006. The firm has a market cap of $1.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 117.16, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company's fifty day moving average price is $273.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $227.04. Broadcom Inc. has a 1 year low of $134.90 and a 1 year high of $313.44.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.98 billion. Broadcom had a return on equity of 35.49% and a net margin of 22.64%. Broadcom's revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $10.96 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 20th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 20th. Broadcom's payout ratio is currently 88.39%.

Broadcom Company 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.