Vest Financial LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Vest Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 47.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 73,810 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after purchasing an additional 23,751 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC's holdings in Broadcom were worth $12,358,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Canton Hathaway LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Rialto Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.65, for a total value of $5,839,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 490,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,564,585.40. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Henry Samueli sold 663,976 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.60, for a total transaction of $120,578,041.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 38,798,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,045,847,733.60. The trade was a 1.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 720,576 shares of company stock valued at $131,249,694 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $225.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating and set a $276.00 price objective (up previously from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $270.25.

Broadcom Trading Down 5.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:AVGO traded down $12.98 during trading on Friday, reaching $246.95. The stock had a trading volume of 41,055,118 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,051,491. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $203.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $206.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $1.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 201.43, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.11. Broadcom Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $128.50 and a fifty-two week high of $265.43.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.98 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 28.00%. The company's revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $10.96 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 20th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 20th. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio is presently 113.46%.

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.