WASHINGTON TRUST Co Sells 17,770 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co cut its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Free Report) by 4.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 397,341 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer's stock after selling 17,770 shares during the quarter. Broadcom accounts for about 2.6% of WASHINGTON TRUST Co's portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. WASHINGTON TRUST Co's holdings in Broadcom were worth $66,527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of AVGO. Rialto Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Broadcom during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Bellevue Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Broadcom during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. 76.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other news, Director Gayla J. Delly sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $265.13, for a total value of $795,390.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 33,352 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,842,615.76. This trade represents a 8.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 36,350 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.27, for a total transaction of $9,497,164.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 325,587 shares in the company, valued at $85,066,115.49. The trade was a 10.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 854,716 shares of company stock worth $221,433,761 over the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on AVGO. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $276.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $225.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $281.25.

Broadcom Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:AVGO traded up $5.16 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $269.90. 17,204,582 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,759,327. The firm has a market cap of $1.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.12. Broadcom Inc. has a 1 year low of $128.50 and a 1 year high of $277.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $233.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $216.44.

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

Broadcom announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, April 7th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor manufacturer to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Broadcom Announces Dividend

The firm 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 yield of 0.87%. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 88.39%.

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.