Venturi Wealth Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 8.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 125,708 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 10,950 shares during the period. Broadcom comprises about 1.1% of Venturi Wealth Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Venturi Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Broadcom were worth $21,047,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Broadcom by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 102,207,120 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $23,647,209,000 after purchasing an additional 3,018,294 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in Broadcom by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 93,274,317 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $21,624,718,000 after purchasing an additional 2,873,809 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Broadcom during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,893,010,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 12.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 49,087,351 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $11,380,411,000 after buying an additional 5,258,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Broadcom by 46.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 47,524,533 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock valued at $11,018,089,000 after buying an additional 15,171,849 shares during the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on AVGO. Hsbc Global Res raised Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Broadcom from $315.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Broadcom from $223.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Broadcom from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $292.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 56,310 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $251.75, for a total transaction of $14,176,042.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 361,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at $91,117,639.75. This represents a 13.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Henry Samueli sold 473,898 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 830,516 shares of company stock valued at $217,224,641. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AVGO traded up $5.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $288.71. 16,378,941 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 27,262,137. The stock has a market cap of $1.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 108.13, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.12. Broadcom Inc. has a 12-month low of $128.50 and a 12-month high of $291.20. 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 firm's fifty day simple moving average is $257.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $221.40.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $10.96 EPS. Broadcom's quarterly revenue was up 20.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 of this dividend was Friday, June 20th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Broadcom's payout ratio is currently 88.39%.

Broadcom announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, April 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor manufacturer to purchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.