UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Sells 22,546 Shares of Broadcom Inc. $AVGO

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp reduced its position in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 133,153 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 22,546 shares during the period. Broadcom accounts for about 2.5% of UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $43,929,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Broadcom by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Arthur M. Cohen & Associates LLC now owns 4,781 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,577,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Broadcom by 1.4% in the third quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,170 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $716,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. McHugh Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Broadcom by 0.4% in the third quarter. McHugh Group LLC now owns 8,433 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $2,782,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 1.4% in the third quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC now owns 2,313 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $763,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FWG Investments LLC. grew its stake in Broadcom by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. FWG Investments LLC. now owns 1,177 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $388,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Broadcom

In related news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $347.82, for a total transaction of $10,434,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 277,237 shares in the company, valued at $96,428,573.34. The trade was a 9.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Harry L. You acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $325.13 per share, for a total transaction of $325,130.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 36,602 shares in the company, valued at $11,900,408.26. This represents a 2.81% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 779,901 shares of company stock worth $284,069,237. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $475.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada assumed coverage on shares of Broadcom in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $370.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Broadcom from $435.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $420.00 target price on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $430.00 price objective (up previously from $375.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Broadcom currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $438.61.

Broadcom Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AVGO opened at $333.24 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $356.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $336.89. Broadcom Inc. has a one year low of $138.10 and a one year high of $414.61. The company has a market capitalization of $1.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 70.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.58.

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

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 22nd. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.62%.

About Broadcom

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.