Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc Reduces Stock Holdings in Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO)

Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc lessened its holdings in shares of Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 35,825 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock after selling 2,730 shares during the quarter. Broadcom makes up approximately 0.6% of Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Fragasso Financial Advisors Inc’s holdings in Broadcom were worth $8,306,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVGO. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division boosted its holdings in Broadcom by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 20,955 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $4,858,000 after buying an additional 3,707 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. raised its holdings in Broadcom by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 291,078 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $467,334,000 after purchasing an additional 7,608 shares during the period. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Broadcom by 829.8% in the 3rd quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,950 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,371,000 after purchasing an additional 7,095 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Broadcom by 943.3% during the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 20,136 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $3,473,000 after purchasing an additional 18,206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. grew its holdings in Broadcom by 947.2% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 689,858 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $119,000,000 after purchasing an additional 623,983 shares during the period. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Broadcom Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of AVGO stock traded up $2.04 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $226.35. The company had a trading volume of 12,526,948 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,441,633. Broadcom Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $109.02 and a fifty-two week high of $251.88. 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 company’s fifty day moving average is $196.90 and its 200 day moving average is $175.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 196.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.03.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $14.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.07 billion. Broadcom had a return on equity of 30.12% and a net margin of 10.88%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 51.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 23rd. This is a positive change from Broadcom’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. Broadcom’s dividend payout ratio is 191.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AVGO. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Broadcom from $233.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Broadcom from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. William Blair began coverage on shares of Broadcom in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Broadcom from $195.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Broadcom from $190.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $223.54.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction of $1,569,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 30,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,308,000. This represents a 17.68 % 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 20,168 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.79, for a total value 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. The trade was a 5.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 191,278 shares of company stock valued at $44,964,800. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.