Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) Position Cut by Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,122 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 415 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $2,197,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Inlight Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Broadcom in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Broadcom in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Broadcom in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Broadcom by 342.5% in the 1st quarter. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Broadcom news, CFO Kirsten M. Spears sold 56,310 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $251.75, for a total transaction of $14,176,042.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 361,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $91,117,639.75. This represents a 13.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 117,758 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $252.91, for a total transaction of $29,782,175.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,014,152 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $256,489,182.32. This represents a 10.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 830,516 shares of company stock valued at $217,224,641. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AVGO. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on Broadcom in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $301.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Broadcom from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Barclays upped their target price on Broadcom from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Broadcom from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Broadcom from $250.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $292.08.

Broadcom Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:AVGO opened at $283.34 on Friday. Broadcom Inc. has a 52 week low of $128.50 and a 52 week high of $288.28. The company’s 50 day moving average is $254.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $220.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $1.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 106.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.12.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.98 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 22.64% and a return on equity of 35.49%. Broadcom’s quarterly revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $10.96 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, April 7th that allows the company to buyback $10.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor manufacturer to buy up to 1.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Broadcom Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 20th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 20th. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is presently 88.39%.

Broadcom Profile

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.