Verity & Verity LLC Sells 3,025 Shares of Broadcom Inc. $AVGO

Verity & Verity LLC lowered its position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 1.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 210,258 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 3,025 shares during the quarter. Broadcom accounts for about 5.6% of Verity & Verity LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $69,366,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC now owns 4,781 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,577,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. McHugh Group LLC raised its stake in Broadcom by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. McHugh Group LLC now owns 8,433 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,782,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Redwood Financial Network Corp lifted its holdings in Broadcom by 1.7% during the second quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 1,939 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $535,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management grew its stake in Broadcom by 2.9% in the third quarter. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management now owns 1,235 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Broadcom by 4.4% in the third quarter. Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 837 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $276,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 25,921 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.07, for a total value of $9,126,006.47. Following the sale, the insider owned 240,573 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,698,536.11. The trade was a 9.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.65, for a total value of $34,565,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 495,638 shares in the company, valued at $171,317,274.70. The trade was a 16.79% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 680,701 shares of company stock worth $249,624,757. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AVGO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Broadcom from $400.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Bank of America increased their target price on Broadcom from $460.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of Broadcom from $385.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Raymond James Financial set a $420.00 price target on shares of Broadcom and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $342.00 to $403.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $436.89.

Broadcom Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $343.50 on Thursday. Broadcom Inc. has a twelve month low of $138.10 and a twelve month high of $414.61. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $361.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $329.81. The company has a market cap of $1.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 72.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.21.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 11th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $18.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.46 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 36.20% and a return on equity of 37.45%. The firm’s revenue was up 28.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 22nd were paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 22nd. This is an increase from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.62%.

Broadcom Company 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.