Wesbanco Bank Inc. Lowers Holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 6.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 370,039 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 23,589 shares during the quarter. Broadcom comprises about 2.2% of Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $61,956,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 475,134,603 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $110,155,206,000 after buying an additional 6,573,204 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Broadcom by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 102,207,120 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $23,647,209,000 after acquiring an additional 3,018,294 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in Broadcom by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 93,274,317 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $21,624,718,000 after acquiring an additional 2,873,809 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom during the 4th quarter worth $16,893,010,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Broadcom by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 49,087,351 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $11,380,411,000 after acquiring an additional 5,258,925 shares during the period. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Broadcom Trading Down 5.0%

NASDAQ AVGO opened at $246.95 on Monday. Broadcom Inc. has a 52 week low of $128.50 and a 52 week high of $265.43. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $203.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.81. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.16 trillion, a PE ratio of 201.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.11.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.98 billion. Broadcom had a return on equity of 28.00% and a net margin of 11.43%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $10.96 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Monday, April 7th that permits the company to repurchase $10.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor manufacturer to repurchase up to 1.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 20th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 20th. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is presently 88.39%.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In other news, Director Henry Samueli sold 663,976 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 38,798,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,045,847,733.60. The trade was a 1.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 720,576 shares of company stock worth $131,249,694. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on AVGO. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $276.00 target price (up from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Broadcom from $225.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Broadcom from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $230.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Two 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Broadcom currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $270.25.

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.