Broadcom Inc. $AVGO Shares Sold by ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 11.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 318,188 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 39,877 shares during the quarter. Broadcom makes up about 3.7% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $104,973,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sawyer & Company Inc lifted its position in Broadcom by 62.1% in the second quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 94 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in shares of Broadcom in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Broadcom during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Macquarie assumed coverage on Broadcom in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $420.00 price objective for the company. Argus upped their price target on shares of Broadcom from $285.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $475.00 price target (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $385.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Broadcom from $443.00 to $462.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $436.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 130,000 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.02, for a total value of $42,382,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 595,638 shares in the company, valued at $194,189,900.76. The trade was a 17.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 38,281 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.65, for a total value of $12,542,769.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 266,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $87,316,759.10. The trade was a 12.56% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 524,780 shares of company stock worth $195,499,150. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Broadcom Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of Broadcom stock opened at $352.13 on Friday. Broadcom Inc. has a one year low of $138.10 and a one year high of $414.61. The company has a market cap of $1.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 73.98, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 1.71. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $362.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $324.51.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 11th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.87 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $18.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.46 billion. Broadcom had a net margin of 36.20% and a return on equity of 37.45%. The business’s revenue was up 28.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.42 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 5.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 22nd. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.62%.

Broadcom 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.