Meridian Wealth Management LLC Has $12.80 Million Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Key Points

• Meridian Wealth Management LLC has increased its stake in Broadcom Inc. by 5.3%, owning 76,426 shares valued at approximately $12.8 million.
• Research firms are optimistic, with Citigroup raising its price target for Broadcom shares from $285 to $315, reflecting a strong consensus of buy ratings across 26 analysts.
• Insider transactions highlight significant selling activity, with CEO Hock E. Tan selling nearly 118,000 shares for about $29.8 million, representing a 10.4% decrease in his ownership.

Meridian Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 5.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 76,426 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after purchasing an additional 3,813 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Broadcom were worth $12,796,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AVGO. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 515,388 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $120,070,000 after acquiring an additional 18,845 shares during the last quarter. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 175.3% in the first quarter. PARUS FINANCE UK Ltd now owns 100,578 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $16,840,000 after acquiring an additional 64,038 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 1,100.8% in the fourth quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC now owns 15,707 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $3,642,000 after acquiring an additional 14,399 shares during the last quarter. Keener Financial Planning LLC increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 34.8% in the first quarter. Keener Financial Planning LLC now owns 890 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $149,000 after acquiring an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 5.6% in the first quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 38,016 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock worth $6,365,000 after acquiring an additional 2,016 shares during the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Broadcom Price Performance

NASDAQ AVGO traded down $3.74 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $309.09. 17,344,261 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 26,324,674. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $275.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $227.64. Broadcom Inc. has a 1-year low of $134.90 and a 1-year high of $317.35. The company has a market cap of $1.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.15.

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

Broadcom Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVGO has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $315.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Broadcom to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $315.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $294.92.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other news, Director Justine Page sold 800 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.30, for a total transaction of $219,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 24,582 shares in the company, valued at $6,742,842.60. The trade was a 3.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $268.29, for a total value of $10,731,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 482,836 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $129,540,070.44. This trade represents a 7.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 829,716 shares of company stock worth $217,040,489 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

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.