WASHINGTON TRUST Co Has $124.53 Million Stake in Broadcom Inc. $AVGO

WASHINGTON TRUST Co decreased its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 2.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 377,451 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 10,379 shares during the period. Broadcom makes up 4.1% of WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $124,525,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC bought a new position in shares of Broadcom in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the second quarter worth $28,000. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Broadcom in the second quarter worth $31,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Broadcom in the third quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Broadcom in the third quarter worth $34,000. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AVGO. Mizuho set a $480.00 target price on shares of Broadcom and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Broadcom from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $410.00 to $430.00 in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of Broadcom from $385.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Raymond James Financial set a $420.00 target price on shares of Broadcom and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Broadcom in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $370.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $433.13.

Broadcom Trading Down 0.7%

NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $319.55 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 67.13, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $336.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $342.75. Broadcom Inc. has a 52 week low of $138.10 and a 52 week high of $414.61.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 11th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.87 by $0.08. Broadcom had a return on equity of 37.45% and a net margin of 36.20%.The business had revenue of $18.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 28.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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 Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 22nd were given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a boost from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 22nd. Broadcom’s payout ratio is 54.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 70,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $347.30, for a total value of $24,311,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,836 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,133,942.80. This trade represents a 34.51% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 1,928 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.80, for a total transaction of $631,998.40. Following the transaction, the insider owned 23,582 shares in the company, valued at $7,730,179.60. This represents a 7.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 779,101 shares of company stock worth $283,804,325 in the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Broadcom Profile

Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ: AVGO) is a global technology company that designs, develops and supplies semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions for a broad range of markets. The company’s semiconductor business provides components and systems for wired and wireless communications, enterprise and cloud storage, networking and broadband access, serving original equipment manufacturers, cloud service providers, telecommunications carriers and industrial customers worldwide. Broadcom is headquartered in Irvine, California, and operates globally with research, development and sales organizations across North America, Europe and Asia.

On the semiconductor side, Broadcom’s portfolio includes system-on-chip (SoC) and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) solutions, radio-frequency and connectivity components, Ethernet switching and PHY devices, storage adapters and controllers, optical transceivers and other networking silicon.