Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Increases Holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. increased its stake in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. 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 quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AVGO. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Broadcom by 948.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,434,213 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $31,814,902,000 after buying an additional 166,844,263 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Broadcom by 976.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 99,188,826 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $17,055,760,000 after purchasing an additional 89,975,941 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Broadcom by 1,121.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 90,400,508 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $15,594,088,000 after purchasing an additional 82,998,328 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Broadcom by 842.4% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 35,998,595 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $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 lifted its stake in Broadcom by 975.4% during the third 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 worth $5,833,894,000 after purchasing an additional 30,674,902 shares during the last quarter. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Broadcom Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of AVGO traded up $1.54 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $225.85. The company had a trading volume of 12,842,835 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,496,447. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $196.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.71. Broadcom Inc. has a 52 week low of $109.02 and a 52 week high of $251.88. The company has a market capitalization of $1.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 196.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Monday, December 23rd were given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This is a boost from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is 191.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on AVGO. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Broadcom from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Broadcom from $245.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Broadcom from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Broadcom from $205.00 to $245.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $223.54.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other news, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 20,168 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.79, for a total transaction of $4,815,916.72. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 321,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,809,191.40. This represents a 5.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Harry L. You sold 6,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $240.00, for a total value of $1,569,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 30,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,308,000. This trade represents a 17.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 191,278 shares of company stock valued at $44,964,800. 2.00% of the stock is 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.