Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Raises Stock Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 28,740 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,604 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $6,663,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 948.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,434,213 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $31,814,902,000 after purchasing an additional 166,844,263 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 976.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 99,188,826 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $17,055,760,000 after purchasing an additional 89,975,941 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 1,121.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 90,400,508 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $15,594,088,000 after purchasing an additional 82,998,328 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 842.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 35,998,595 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $6,209,758,000 after purchasing an additional 32,178,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 975.4% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,819,675 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $5,833,894,000 after purchasing an additional 30,674,902 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on AVGO shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Broadcom from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Broadcom from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $245.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Broadcom from $205.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Broadcom to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.54.

Broadcom Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AVGO traded up $1.54 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $225.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 12,842,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,496,447. Broadcom Inc. has a 1 year low of $109.02 and a 1 year high of $251.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $1.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 196.22, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s fifty day moving average is $196.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $175.71.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.03. Broadcom had a net margin of 10.88% and a return on equity of 30.12%. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is presently 191.87%.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In related news, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.98, for a total transaction of $9,279,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 696,730 shares in the company, valued at $161,627,425.40. This represents a 5.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Eddy W. Hartenstein sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.64, for a total transaction of $918,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 46,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,655,296. The trade was a 7.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 191,278 shares of company stock valued at $44,964,800 in the last ninety days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.