WFA Asset Management Corp Acquires 1,908 Shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 900.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,120 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,908 shares during the quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $366,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AVGO. SYM FINANCIAL Corp increased its position in shares of Broadcom by 6.0% during the first quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 390 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $517,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Concord Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom in the first quarter worth $297,000. CFO4Life Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 5.2% during the first quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 1,225 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,624,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 3.7% during the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 14,728 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $19,521,000 after buying an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Broadcom by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 17,695 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $23,453,000 after buying an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Broadcom from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. William Blair initiated coverage on Broadcom in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on Broadcom from $2,400.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Broadcom from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 6th. 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.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $192.79.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.37, for a total transaction of $8,168,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,331,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $217,594,136.70. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 15,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.44, for a total value of $2,893,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 737,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,781,155.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.37, for a total transaction of $8,168,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,331,910 shares in the company, valued at $217,594,136.70. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 311,080 shares of company stock valued at $53,540,590. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Price Performance

Shares of Broadcom stock opened at $179.55 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $838.60 billion, a PE ratio of 156.13, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.17. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $169.80 and a 200 day moving average of $156.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. Broadcom Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.62 and a 12 month high of $186.42.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.04. Broadcom had a return on equity of 30.12% and a net margin of 10.88%. The firm had revenue of $13.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. This is a boost from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 19th. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is currently 184.35%.

Broadcom 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.