First Financial Bank Trust Division Purchases Shares of 33,010 Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

First Financial Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 33,010 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock, valued at approximately $5,694,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Broadcom by 3.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,651,273 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $59,181,244,000 after buying an additional 1,303,462 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Broadcom by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,825,465 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,386,425,000 after buying an additional 170,063 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 43.9% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 4,141,025 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $5,488,556,000 after purchasing an additional 1,263,957 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 2.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,963,063 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $6,362,816,000 after purchasing an additional 83,846 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 48.9% in the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 2,992,833 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,966,730,000 after purchasing an additional 983,328 shares during the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 7,502 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,705.95, for a total transaction of $12,798,036.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 138,191 shares in the company, valued at $235,746,936.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 7,502 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,705.95, for a total transaction of $12,798,036.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 138,191 shares in the company, valued at $235,746,936.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Gayla J. Delly sold 750 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.53, for a total value of $130,897.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 34,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,064,917.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 233,452 shares of company stock worth $51,278,838 over the last quarter. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Broadcom Stock Performance

NASDAQ AVGO opened at $170.66 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $794.40 billion, a PE ratio of 7.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.17. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $158.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $149.13. Broadcom Inc. has a 1-year low of $80.89 and a 1-year high of $185.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $13.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.98 billion. Broadcom had a return on equity of 30.12% and a net margin of 10.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were given a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 19th. This is an increase from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on Broadcom from $2,400.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Broadcom from $2,000.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen upgraded Broadcom to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Broadcom from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Broadcom from $155.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Broadcom presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $189.23.

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.