Meridian Management Co. Raises Stock Position in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Meridian Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 920.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,786 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,611 shares during the period. Meridian Management Co.’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 34.9% during the first quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 10,129 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $13,425,000 after buying an additional 2,622 shares during the period. Allstate Corp increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 1.0% during the first quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 1,407 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,865,000 after buying an additional 14 shares during the period. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 7.2% during the first quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC now owns 638 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $882,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the first quarter worth approximately $922,000. Finally, NWK Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Broadcom by 2.8% during the first quarter. NWK Group Inc. now owns 7,813 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $10,355,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the period. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AVGO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Broadcom from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Rosenblatt Securities dropped their price target on shares of Broadcom from $2,400.00 to $240.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $204.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Broadcom from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Broadcom presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $192.79.

Broadcom Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AVGO opened at $164.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $172.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $159.14. Broadcom Inc. has a 1-year low of $90.31 and a 1-year high of $186.42. The company has a market cap of $769.90 billion, a PE ratio of 143.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.17.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 5th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.04. Broadcom had a return on equity of 30.12% and a net margin of 10.88%. The firm had revenue of $13.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.98 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 19th were issued a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 19th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. This is an increase from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 184.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, insider Charlie B. Kawwas sold 15,950 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.44, for a total value of $2,893,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 737,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,781,155.20. This trade represents a 2.12 % 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, insider Mark David Brazeal sold 18,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.88, for a total value of $3,456,432.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 380,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,596,812.80. This represents a 4.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 311,080 shares of company stock valued at $53,540,590. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company 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.