Congress Asset Management Co. Lowers Stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Congress Asset Management Co. trimmed its holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 17.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 66,925 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 13,874 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $15,516,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Castleview Partners LLC lifted its position in Broadcom by 1,030.8% during the 3rd quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 147 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Broadcom by 900.0% during the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 150 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Broadcom in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, JDM Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Broadcom by 1,323.1% in the 3rd quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 185 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVGO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Broadcom from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $240.00 price target on shares of Broadcom in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Broadcom from $245.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Broadcom from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Broadcom from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.04.

Broadcom Stock Performance

NASDAQ AVGO opened at $228.53 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 186.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.02. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $227.24 and a 200-day moving average of $188.12. Broadcom Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.76 and a fifty-two week high of $251.88.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.03. Broadcom had a net margin of 11.43% and a return on equity of 28.00%. The business had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. This is an increase from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Broadcom’s payout ratio is currently 192.50%.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other news, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total transaction of $1,569,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,308,000. This represents a 17.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Diane M. Bryant sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.68, for a total transaction of $3,400,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,464,352.80. The trade was a 69.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,278 shares of company stock worth $44,964,800. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.