First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA Increases Stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA raised its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 902.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,907 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 16,121 shares during the quarter. Broadcom comprises about 0.7% of First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $3,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 928.6% in the third quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 1,415,648 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $244,199,000 after purchasing an additional 1,278,013 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 770.3% during the 3rd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 108,345 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $18,690,000 after buying an additional 95,896 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas lifted its holdings in Broadcom by 1,311.3% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 399,897 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $68,914,000 after acquiring an additional 371,561 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in Broadcom by 2,476.4% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,870,958 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $322,740,000 after acquiring an additional 1,798,340 shares during the period. Finally, Cravens & Co Advisors LLC increased its stake in Broadcom by 814.2% during the third quarter. Cravens & Co Advisors LLC now owns 12,278 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,118,000 after acquiring an additional 10,935 shares during the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AVGO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen raised Broadcom to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $195.96.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 50,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.37, for a total value of $8,168,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,331,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,594,136.70. The trade was a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gayla J. Delly sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 34,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,064,917.50. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their position. 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. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Broadcom Price Performance

Broadcom stock opened at $159.67 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $745.75 billion, a PE ratio of 138.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.17. Broadcom Inc. has a 52 week low of $90.31 and a 52 week high of $186.42. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $173.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $161.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

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

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 19th. This is a boost from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 184.35%.

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.